January 2013

On December 16, AERA released a joint statement by President William G. Tierney and Executive Director Felice J. Levine on the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School. The statement recognized that while “there are no words that can provide adequate solace at times of such great grief,” we must strive to ensure that “schools—from kindergarten through college—are . . . safe havens to support and nurture students' substantive, social, and civic learning.”

Within days, on December 19, the AERA Council unanimously endorsed a statement on violence prevention prepared by nine expert scholars. This Call for More Effective Prevention of Violence was signed by well over 200 violence prevention scholars and practitioners and over 100 endorsing organizations.

The statement asked for “a renewed nationwide effort to address the problem of mass shootings that have occurred repeatedly in our schools and communities” through meaningful action by political leaders and communities. The statement urged a cooperative approach to improving mental health resources, integrating threat assessment processes, evaluating the effects of violence in media, and limiting access to guns, as the components of a first step toward keeping our schools and communities safe.