Gaggle’s student safety management solution uses a combination of machine learning algorithms and human safety experts to review students’ use of online tools. The solution analyzes and reviews the use of online tools within Google’s G Suite, Microsoft Office 365, and the Canvas learning management system for nearly five million students across the United States. The solution alerts school officials when students show signs of self harm, depression, thoughts of suicide, substance abuse, cyberbullying, and credible threats of violence against other students.
“The data shows that students as young as elementary school are engaging in an alarming number of behaviors that are dangerous to themselves or others. Teachers and administrators might not see the warning signs in their physical interactions with students. However, students are revealing these behaviors through the messages they send, the online documents they create, and the images they share,” according to the report.
The report offers insight into patterns or behaviors school leaders should track, regardless of the student safety management solution they use.
“We see an increase in this type of activity around the holidays, such as Christmas and Valentine’s Day. After a school shooting, we’ll see a rise in
potential threats as well. Some of this might be copycat behavior on the part of troubled students, and some is the result of greater awareness, where students are more attuned to possible warning signs,” says Mackenzie Sandack, a safety expert for Gaggle, in the report. Sandack previously counseled teens at a crisis center.
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While potentially harmful behavior can be revealed in many ways, one trend that has emerged is students’ use of Microsoft or Google documents for journaling. Students write in those documents about emotions and experiences such as suicidal thoughts or a history of being bullied or sexually assaulted. Students are also revealing troubling secrets to their friends using a school email account or a collaborative Google Doc.
School leaders address student safety management outcomes
“Experiencing a school shooting or student suicide is every school leader’s worst nightmare. In the first six months of this school year, Gaggle has alerted us to 148 threats of violence among our 14,100 students, and five students planning self-harm. We’re grateful that we were tipped off to these threats and could act immediately to prevent a tragedy,” says Michael S. Kuhrt, superintendent of schools for Wichita Falls ISD in Texas.
School District 87 in Bloomington, IL, adopted Gaggle as part of its 1:1 computing initiative that encompasses 10 schools and about 5,500 students.
Since implementing Gaggle, the district has identified at least 6 cases where administrators believed students were heading down the path to suicide. Thanks to a Gaggle alert, the district was able to act swiftly.
“Of course, you never actually know, because the end result thankfully didn’t happen,” says Barry Reilly, the district’s superintendent. “But I’m fully convinced [Gaggle has helped us save lives].”
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