13. Students' reports of avoiding places in school

This indicator repeats information from the 2002 Indicators of School Crime and Safety report.

In 2001, 6th-grade students and urban students were more likely to avoid places in school than 12th-grade students and students from suburban and rural areas, respectively.

School crime may lead students to perceive specific areas at school as unsafe. In trying to ensure their own Safety, they begin to avoid these areas (Ingersoll and LeBoeuf 1997). Changes in the percentage of students avoiding certain areas in school may be a good barometer of how safe schools are, at least in the minds of those who attend them. In the School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey, students ages 12?18 were asked whether they had avoided certain places in school ? such as the entrance, any hallways or stairs, parts of the cafeteria, restrooms, and other places inside the school building ? during the previous 6 months. This indicator provides estimates of those students who responded that they avoided at least one of these places.

No difference could be detected in the percentage of students who avoided one or more places in school between 1999 and 2001 (5 percent in both years) (table 13.1). Between 1995 and 1999, the percentage of students ages 12?18 who avoided one or more places in school decreased from 9 to 5 percent.

In all survey years, both Black and Hispanic students were more likely than White students to report avoiding specific places in school (figure 13.1 and table 13.1). In 2001, for example, 4 percent of White students reported avoiding certain areas, compared with 7 percent of Black students and 6 percent of Hispanic students.

In the most recent survey year, students? avoidance of certain places in school differed according to their grade level and the location of their school. Grade level was inversely associated with the likelihood of avoiding places at school. In 2001, 7 percent of 6th-graders and 3 percent of 12th-graders avoided certain areas in school. In the same year, students in urban areas were the most likely to avoid specific places in school (figure 13.2 and table 13.1): 6 percent of urban students reported that they had done so, compared with 4 percent each of suburban and rural students.

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