Table 16. Number of students in public middle schools involved in the use or possession of a weapon other than a firearm at school, and the number and percentage of students receiving various disciplinary actions, by selected school characteristics: School year 2003

School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS)

Publications & Products|Table Library|Staff

Back

Download Excel

(42 KB)

Download SE Excel

(37 KB)

Table 16. Number of students in public middle schools involved in the use or possession of a weapon other than a firearm at school, and the number and percentage of students receiving various disciplinary actions, by selected school characteristics: School year 2003–04

		Disciplinary actions taken for students involved in the use or possession of a weapon other than a firearm at school
	Total students involved in recorded offenses	Removals without continuing services		Transfers to specialized schools¹		Out-of-school suspensions lasting 5 or more days		Other disciplinary action²
School characteristic	Number	Number	Percent	Number	Percent	Number	Percent	Number	Percent
All public schools	19,440	937	5	5,854	31	8,294	43	3,992	21

Enrollment size
Less than 300	353	54	15	115	33	126	36	57	16
300–499	2,541	108	4	771	31	1,068	43	564	22
500–999	8,982	528	6	2,674	30	3,589	41	2,024	23
1,000 or more	7,565	246	3	2,294	31	3,511	47	1,346	18

Urbanicity
City	8,821	415	5	3,088	36	4,020	46	1,133	13
Urban fringe	6,820	320	5	1,820	27	2,983	45	1,575	24
Town	1,594	131	8	424	27	598	38	426	27
Rural	2,205	70	3	522	24	693	32	857	40

Crime level where students live³
High	2,938	57	2	913	31	1,413	48	543	19
Moderate	7,107	342	5	2,310	33	2,968	42	1,404	20
Low	5,630	315	6	1,758	32	2,195	40	1,208	22
Mixed	3,765	223	6	874	24	1,719	47	837	23

Percent minority enrollment⁴
Less than 5 percent	761	37	5	122	17	271	38	292	40
5 to 20 percent	2,762	154	6	729	27	1,155	43	637	24
20 to 50 percent	5,286	319	6	1,487	28	2,553	49	883	17
50 percent or more	10,198	417	4	3,377	34	4,248	42	1,962	20

Percent of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch
0–20 percent	2,417	123	5	603	26	895	39	694	30
21–50 percent	5,624	453	8	1,486	27	2,506	45	1,116	20
More than 50 percent	11,400	360	3	3,766	34	4,893	44	2,182	19

Percent of students below 15^th percentile on standardized tests
0–5 percent	2,520	50	2	770	31	1,058	42	632	25
6–15 percent	7,143	475	7	1,519	22	3,124	45	1,795	26
More than 15 percent	9,777	412	4	3,565	37	4,113	43	1,565	16

Percent of students likely to attend college
0–35 percent	7,864	351	4	2,447	31	3,666	47	1,357	17
36–60 percent	7,672	357	5	2,380	32	2,949	40	1,732	23
More than 60 percent	3,905	229	6	1,027	27	1,680	44	903	24

Percent of students who consider academic achievement important
0–25 percent	2,776	96	4	782	29	1,192	44	646	24
26–50 percent	5,422	440	8	1,474	28	2,351	44	1,079	20
51–75 percent	7,174	257	4	2,453	35	3,040	43	1,299	18
More than 75 percent	4,069	144	4	1,145	29	1,711	43	968	24

Percent male enrollment
0–44 percent	991	36	4	346	36	556	58	25	3
45–55 percent	17,112	849	5	5,140	31	7,079	42	3,731	22
More than 55 percent	1,337	52	4	368	28	659	50	236	18

Student-to-teacher ratio⁵
Less than 12 students	5,026	191	4	1,333	27	2,510	51	913	18
12–16 students	7,835	466	6	2,476	32	2,949	39	1,731	23
More than 16 students	6,580	279	4	2,045	31	2,836	44	1,347	21

Number of classroom changes⁶
0–3 changes	556	66	12	126	23	255	47	98	18
4–6 changes	8,560	215	3	2,920	34	3,855	45	1,489	18
More than 6 changes	10,324	656	7	2,808	28	4,184	42	2,404	24

Regular use of law enforcement⁷
Regular use	15,730	690	4	5,087	33	6,563	43	3,081	20
No regular use	3,711	247	7	767	21	1,731	47	911	25

Number of serious discipline problems⁸
No problems	5,062	355	7	1,700	35	1,841	37	1,016	21
1 problem	4,322	175	4	1,283	30	1,917	44	936	22
2 problems	3,614	258	7	839	24	1,538	43	902	26
3 or more problems	6,442	148	2	2,032	32	2,998	47	1,137	18

Transfers as a percentage of enrollment⁹
0 to 6 percent	2,211	77	3	344	16	1,096	50	674	31
6 to 11 percent	2,407	114	5	641	28	1,016	44	553	24
11 to 21 percent	5,646	294	5	1,642	29	2,567	46	1,079	19
21 percent or more	9,176	452	5	3,226	36	3,615	40	1,686	19

Prevalence of schoolwide disruptions¹⁰
No disruptions	15,919	905	6	4,490	29	6,896	44	3,313	21
Any disruptions	3,522	32	1	1,364	39	1,398	40	678	20

Percent of students absent on a daily basis
0–2 percent	1,120	59	5	399	37	410	38	220	20
3–5 percent	7,807	459	6	2,143	28	3,044	40	1,982	26
6–10 percent	9,514	358	4	2,988	32	4,434	47	1,611	17
More than 10 percent	1,000	61	6	325	33	406	42	179	18

Prevalence of violent incidents¹¹
No violent incidents	70	#	#	19	27	51	73	#	#
Any violent incidents	19,370	937	5	5,835	31	8,243	43	3,992	21
# Rounds to zero.
¹ Specialized school was defined for respondents as "a school that is specifically for students who were referred for disciplinary reasons. The school may also have students who were referred for other reasons. The school may be at the same location as your school."
² Other disciplinary actions include suspension less than 5 days, detention, etc.
³ Respondents were asked, "How would you describe the crime level in the area(s) in which your students live?" Response options included "high level of crime," "moderate level of crime," "low level of crime," and "students come from areas with very different levels of crime."
⁴ These estimates exclude data from Tennessee because schools in this state did not report estimates of student race.
⁵ Student-to-teacher ratio was calculated by dividing the total number of students enrolled in the school by the total number of full-time-equivalent teachers and aides. The total number of full-time-equivalent teachers and aides is a combination of the full-time and part-time teachers and aides, including special education teachers and aides, with an adjustment to compensate for the part-time status.
⁶ Respondents were asked, "How many classroom changes do most students make in a typical day?" Responses exclude morning arrival and afternoon departure.
⁷ Respondents were asked, "During the 2003–2004 school year, did you have any sworn law enforcement officers, security guards, or security personnel present at your school on a regular basis?"
⁸ Serious discipline problems include student racial tensions, student bullying, student sexual harassment of other students, student verbal abuse of teachers, widespread disorder in classrooms, student acts of disrespect for teachers, gang activities, and cult or extremist group activities. If a respondent reported that any of these problems occurred daily or weekly in their school, each was counted once in the total number of serious discipline problems.
⁹ Transfers as a percentage of enrollment combines the number of students who were transferred to a school and the number of students who were transferred from a school divided by the total number of students enrolled in the school.
¹⁰ Schoolwide disruptions include actions that disrupted school activities such as death threats, bomb threats, and chemical, biological, or radiological threats. Respondents were instructed to exclude all fire alarms, including false alarms.
¹¹ Violent incidents include rape, sexual battery other than rape, physical attack or fight with or without a weapon, threat of physical attack with or without a weapon, and robbery with or without a weapon.
NOTE: The numbers of students involved in offenses were provided by the principal or the person most knowledgeable about discipline issues at the school. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. Responses were provided by the principal or the person most knowledgeable about crime and safety issues at school.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS), 2004.

Back

Download Excel

(42 KB)

Download SE Excel

(37 KB)

NCES Headlines