Variation in Child Welfare Reports Across Schools: Prevalence, Predictors and Impacts
Date(s):
October 30, 2025, 11:00 am - 12:15 pm
Location:
Scholar's Event Theatre, Price Gilbert Library
Public school staff are mandated reporters of child maltreatment, but concerns about over-reporting have led many states to consider reforming these laws. In this talk, Brian Jacob, Walter H. Annenberg Professor of Education Policy at the University of Michigan, will share findings from a study documenting variation in reporting rates across schools that observable student, school, or neighborhood characteristics cannot explain. He will discuss evidence of distinct school reporting cultures, their relationship to school characteristics, and the surprising link between higher reporting cultures in elementary schools and improved standardized test scores in middle school.