Table 3. Number and percentage of public schools reporting sexual and physical assaults that occurred at school, the number of sexual and physical assaults, and the rate of sexual and physical assaults per 1,000 students, by selected school characteristics: School year 2003–04

School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS)

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Table 3. Number and percentage of public schools reporting sexual and physical assaults that occurred at school, the number of sexual and physical assaults, and the rate of sexual and physical assaults per 1,000 students, by selected school characteristics: School year 2003–04—Continued (Return to Table 3)

School characteristic	Physical attack or fight with a weapon³,⁴				Physical attack or fight without a weapon³,⁴
School characteristic	Num- ber of schools	Per- cent of schools	Num- ber of incidents	Rate per 1,000 students	Num- ber of schools	Per- cent of schools	Num- ber of incidents	Rate per 1,000 students
All public schools	3,206	4	12,300	0.3	61,709	77	932,082	20.0

Level⁵
Primary	1,440	3	5,000	0.2	33,253	68	420,346	18.6
Middle	613	4	3,382	0.3	13,267	92	296,712	30.3
High school	851	8	3,337	0.3	10,234	95	167,422	14.4
Combined	301	5	580	0.2	4,955	78	47,603	18.0

Enrollment size
Less than 300	835	4	3,260	0.8	11,923	63	89,494	22.9
300–499	483	2	1,602	0.2	17,289	74	180,942	18.5
500–999	1,015	4	3,497	0.2	23,920	82	420,069	21.4
1,000 or more	872	10	3,940	0.3	8,577	96	241,577	18.0

Urbanicity
City	970	5	5,081	0.4	16,938	84	294,715	21.7
Urban fringe	1,234	5	2,772	0.2	20,129	76	345,132	18.7
Town	496	5	3,043	0.6	8,105	84	93,382	18.8
Rural	506	2	1,404	0.1	16,537	68	198,853	20.4

Crime level where students live⁶
High	515	9	3,190	0.9	5,494	94	119,097	33.2
Moderate	1,179	8	3,715	0.4	13,536	87	279,736	27.9
Low	1,204	2	4,026	0.2	34,411	71	379,009	14.6
Mixed	308	3	1,368	0.2	8,269	77	154,240	21.6

Percent minority enrollment⁷
Less than 5 percent	387	2	1,947	0.3	11,312	66	111,434	15.6
5 to 20 percent	451	2	1,464	0.1	14,304	72	174,977	15.5
20 to 50 percent	524	3	1,409	0.1	14,130	80	218,165	19.7
50 percent or more	1,810	7	7,446	0.5	20,693	85	409,867	25.4

Percent of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch
0–20 percent	434	2	1,399	0.1	12,327	65	146,342	11.2
21–50 percent	861	3	3,773	0.2	21,928	77	324,346	20.0
More than 50 percent	1,911	6	7,128	0.4	27,454	83	461,394	26.4

Percent of students below 15^th percentile on standardized tests
0–5 percent	612	3	1,286	0.1	15,859	68	175,116	13.7
6–15 percent	1,240	4	5,581	0.3	25,955	77	388,207	19.5
More than 15 percent	1,355	6	5,433	0.4	19,895	85	368,759	26.4

Percent of students likely to attend college
0–35 percent	1,454	6	4,568	0.3	20,590	80	372,769	27.8
36–60 percent	618	3	2,193	0.2	18,686	83	286,664	21.9
More than 60 percent	1,135	4	5,538	0.3	22,433	69	272,650	13.5

Percent of students who consider academic achievement important
0–25 percent	621	8	2,075	0.5	7,414	90	127,271	31.8
26–50 percent	966	6	3,611	0.4	14,216	82	230,858	24.6
51–75 percent	732	3	3,421	0.2	18,468	79	303,035	21.7
More than 75 percent	887	3	3,193	0.2	21,613	69	270,918	14.0

Percent male enrollment
0–44 percent	494	9	1,294	0.5	3,728	68	54,343	20.2
45–55 percent	2,480	4	9,687	0.2	51,744	78	798,166	20.0
More than 55 percent	233	3	1,319	0.3	6,237	70	79,573	19.5

Student-to-teacher ratio⁸
Less than 12 students	1,506	4	4,777	0.3	25,700	72	330,771	21.8
12–16 students	899	3	4,981	0.3	23,790	80	372,897	19.1
More than 16 students	801	5	2,542	0.2	12,219	83	228,414	19.0

Number of classroom changes⁹
0–3 changes	780	4	2,630	0.3	13,870	66	180,911	17.9
4–6 changes	1,531	4	5,455	0.2	28,627	77	436,752	19.8
More than 6 changes	895	4	4,214	0.3	19,212	87	314,419	21.7

Regular use of law enforcement¹⁰
Regular use	2,229	6	8,574	0.3	29,797	82	574,599	21.0
No regular use	977	2	3,726	0.2	31,912	72	357,483	18.5

Number of serious discipline problems¹¹
No problems	1,300	3	4,843	0.2	36,455	70	390,990	14.1
1 problem	776	5	3,792	0.4	11,964	82	189,137	21.6
2 problems	273	4	1,237	0.2	7,161	94	160,730	32.1
3 or more problems	857	13	2,426	0.5	6,129	94	191,225	37.2

Transfers as a percentage of enrollment¹²
0 to 6 percent	571	4	2,331	0.3	11,027	70	120,127	13.4
6 to 11 percent	513	3	2,346	0.2	12,624	72	148,312	15.5
11 to 21 percent	773	3	2,295	0.2	18,296	76	267,706	18.4
21 percent or more	1,349	6	5,328	0.4	19,762	85	395,937	29.2

Prevalence of schoolwide disruptions¹³
No disruptions	2,748	4	9,419	0.2	57,023	76	825,878	19.5
Any disruptions	458	9	2,881	0.6	4,686	92	106,204	23.8

Percent of students absent on a daily basis
0–2 percent	77	1	116	#	4,917	63	54,769	16.1
3–5 percent	1,365	3	7,971	0.3	33,382	75	419,621	17.0
6–10 percent	1,518	6	2,889	0.2	19,914	84	384,850	24.6
More than 10 percent	247	6	1,324	0.4	3,496	80	72,843	24.4
# Rounds to zero.
¹ Rape was defined for respondents as "forced sexual intercourse (vaginal, anal, or oral penetration). Includes penetration from a foreign object."
² Sexual battery was defined for respondents as an "incident that includes threatened rape, fondling, indecent liberties, child molestation, or sodomy. Classification of these incidents should take should take into consideration the age and developmentally appropriate behavior of the offender(s)."
³ Physical attack or fight was defined for respondents as an "actual and intentional touching or striking of another person against his or her will, or the intentional causing of bodily harm to an individual."
⁴ Weapon was defined for respondents as "any instrument or object used with the intent to threaten, injure, or kill. Includes look-alikes if they are used to threaten others."
⁵ Primary schools are defined as schools in which the lowest grade is not higher than grade 3 and the highest grade is not higher than grade 8. Middle schools are defined as schools in which the lowest grade is not lower than grade 4 and the highest grade is not higher than grade 9. High schools are defined as schools in which the lowest grade is not lower than grade 9 and the highest grade is not higher than grade 12. Combined schools include all other combinations of grades, including K–12 schools.
⁶ 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."
⁷ These estimates exclude data from Tennessee because schools in this state did not report estimates of student race.
⁸ 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.
⁹ Respondents were asked, "How many classroom changes do most students make in a typical day?" Responses exclude morning arrival and afternoon departure.
¹⁰ 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?"
¹¹ 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.
¹² 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.
¹³ 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.
NOTE: "At school" was defined for respondents to include activities that happen in school buildings, on school grounds, on school buses, and at places that hold school-sponsored events or activities. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. Reponses were provided by the principal or the person most knowledgeable about crime and safety issues at the school.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS), 2004.

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