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School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS)

Table 29.  Percentage of public middle schools reporting that their efforts to reduce or prevent crime at school were limited in a major way, a minor way, or not at all, by selected factors: School year 2003–04


Factor Efforts to reduce or prevent crime were limited in a major way Efforts to reduce or prevent crime were limited in a minor way Efforts to reduce or prevent crime were not limited at all
Lack of or inadequate teacher training in classroom management  4 37 59
Lack of or inadequate alternative placements or programs for disruptive students  26 40 33
Likelihood of complaints from parents  4 26 70
Lack of teacher support for school policies  2 21 77
Lack of parental support for school policies  9 40 51
Teachers’ fear of student retaliation  1 16 82
Fear of litigation  2 30 68
Inadequate funds  24 39 36
Inconsistent application of school policies by faculty or staff  7 40 54
Fear of district or state reprisal  2 16 83
Federal, state, or district policies on disciplining special education students1  24 46 30
Other federal policies on discipline and safety  5 28 68
Other state or district policies on discipline and safety  3 28 68
1 A special education student was defined for respondents as "a child with a disability, defined as mental retardation, hearing impairments (including deafness), speech or language impairments, visual impairments (including blindness), serious emotional disturbance, orthopedic impairments, autism, traumatic brain injury, other health impairments, or specific learning disabilities, and who needs special education and related services and receives these under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)."
NOTE: Detail may not sum to 100 percent 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.


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