Question:
Do you have information on efforts to prevent violence in our schools?

Response:

Gun-Free Schools Act

The Gun-Free Schools Act (GFSA) requires that each state or outlying area receiving federal funds under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) have a law that requires all local educational agencies (LEAs) in the state or outlying area to expel from school for at least one year any student found bringing a firearm to school or possessing a firearm at school. Their laws must also authorize the LEA chief administering officer to modify, in writing, any such expulsion on a case-by-case basis. In addition, the GFSA states that the law must be construed so as to be consistent with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

Overall, 50 states, the District of Columbia (D.C.), Puerto Rico and the four outlying areas reported data under the GFSA for the 2003–04 school year:

• These states and outlying areas reported that they expelled a total of 2,165 students from school for bringing a firearm to school or possessing a firearm at school.

• Fifty-eight percent of the expulsions were students in senior high school, 29 percent were in junior high, and 13 percent were in elementary school.

• Fifty-eight percent of the expulsions were for bringing or possessing a handgun. Thirty percent were for some other type of firearm or other destructive device, such as bombs, grenades, or starter pistols, and 12 percent of the expulsions were for bringing or possessing a rifle or shotgun.

• Forty-six percent of expulsions were modified to less than one year.

• Seventy-five percent of modified expulsions were for students who were not considered disabled.

• Forty-six percent of students in the reporting states were referred to an alternative placement. Among those referred, 36 percent of the expulsions were modified and 64 percent were not modified.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education. (2007). Report on the Implementation of the Gun-Free Schools Act of 1994 in the States and Outlying Areas: School Year 2003-04.

School Administrative Practices

One approach to preventing or reducing violence in schools is to structure the way the school manages its student population.

Findings presented in Crime, Violence, Discipline and Safety in U.S. Public Schools: Findings from the School Survey on Crime and Safety: 2005-06 show that in 2005-2006:

• City schools (94 percent) were more likely than rural schools (87 percent) to use student-to-student or adult-to-student methods of violence prevention such as individual attention, mentoring, tutoring, or coaching of students. Overall, 91 percent of schools had such programs.

• Among factors that were reported to limit schools’ efforts to reduce crime in a major way, three factors were more likely to be reported than others: a lack of or inadequate alternative placements or programs for disruptive students (19 percent); inadequate funds (17 percent); and federal, state, or district policies on disciplining special education students (11 percent).

• Of the disciplinary actions administered for use or possession of a weapon other than a firearm, the percentage of out-of-school suspensions lasting 5 or more days but less than the remainder of the school year (41 percent) was no different than the percentage of other disciplinary actions¹ (32 percent). Both out-of-school suspensions and other disciplinary actions were used more often than were removals with no continuing services for at least the remainder of the school year (7 percent) and transfers to specialized schools (20 percent).

¹“Other disciplinary actions” were defined as any disciplinary actions other than “no continuing school services for at least the remainder of the school year,” “transfers to specialized schools for disciplinary reasons,” and “out-of-school suspensions lasting 5 or more days but less than the remainder of the school year.” The following examples of “other disciplinary actions” were provided to respondents: suspension less than 5 days and detention.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2007). Crime, Violence, Discipline and Safety in U.S. Public Schools: Findings from the School Survey on Crime and Safety: 2005-06 (NCES 2007-361).

Related Tables and Figures:  (Listed by Release Date)

• 2008, Digest of Education Statistics 2007, Table 154. Percentage of students in grades 9 through 12 who reported experience with drugs and violence on school property, by race/ethnicity, grade, and sex: Selected years, 1997 through 2005
  

Other Resources:  (Listed by Release Date)

• 2007, Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2007
  
• 2006, Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2006
  
• 2005, Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2005
  
• 2004, Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2004
  
• 2003, Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2003
  
• 2002, Are America's School Safe? Students Speak Out: 1999 School Crime Supplement
  
• 2002, Safety in Numbers: Collecting and Using Crime, Violence, and Discipline Incident Data to Make a Difference in Schools
  
• 2002, To Help Promote a Violence-Free School Environment