The chaos following Hurricane Katrina made clear that effective emergency response requires the collaboration of many different types of organizations. A central question in emergency response after Katrina will be how to achieve successful collaboration. This study will provide insight into the factors promoting high quality emergency planning in schools (with special attention to the role of collaboration in the emergency planning process) and the dynamics of collaboration on planning in public agencies generally. The research will involve a multi-strategy assessment of emergency preparedness planning processes in K-12 school campuses and districts in Texas (with a focused study of North Texas). The project will gather information on these campuses and districts through a survey, a collection of primary documents from many of these educational organizations, and a detailed interview protocol for a sub-sample of districts. This study will contribute to scientific knowledge about educational organizations, emergency planning, and the role of collaboration on hazard and emergency preparedness in public organizations
