Table 17. Number of students involved in the distribution, possession, or use of alcohol or illegal drugs 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)

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Table 17. Number of students involved in the distribution, possession, or use of alcohol or illegal drugs at school, and the number and percentage of students receiving various disciplinary actions, by selected school characteristics: School year 2003–04

School characteristic		Disciplinary actions taken for students involved in the distribution, possession, or use of alcohol or illegal drugs 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
	Number	Number	Percent	Number	Percent	Number	Percent	Number	Percent
All public schools	162,984	10,641	7	39,225	25	66,707	43	38,889	25

Level³
Primary	5,318	110	2	1,334	26	2,192	42	1,560	30
Middle	37,022	1,621	5	11,136	31	13,688	39	8,944	25
High school	108,106	7,031	7	24,886	24	45,686	44	25,926	25
Combined	12,539	1,879	17	1,870	16	5,141	45	2,459	22

Enrollment size
Less than 300	7,609	420	6	1,695	25	2,457	36	2,189	32
300–499	15,029	2,219	15	2,975	21	5,849	41	3,285	23
500–999	42,767	2,813	7	11,019	27	17,933	44	9,340	23
1,000 or more	97,579	5,189	6	23,536	25	40,469	43	24,074	26

Urbanicity
City	51,478	3,968	8	12,438	25	19,606	40	13,260	27
Urban fringe	62,028	3,489	6	14,947	25	27,208	45	14,228	24
Town	18,389	1,235	7	4,338	24	8,446	47	3,901	22
Rural	31,089	1,949	7	7,503	26	11,447	40	7,500	26

Crime level where students live⁴
High	13,890	2,018	15	3,311	25	4,598	35	3,330	25
Moderate	41,828	2,370	6	11,114	28	15,979	40	10,802	27
Low	77,153	3,938	5	17,112	23	34,568	47	17,435	24
Mixed	30,114	2,315	8	7,688	27	11,561	40	7,322	25

Percent minority enrollment⁵
Less than 5 percent	21,619	1,478	7	2,516	13	11,101	56	4,837	24
5 to 20 percent	42,469	2,511	6	7,742	19	19,914	49	10,410	26
20 to 50 percent	38,182	1,994	5	10,641	29	16,932	46	7,146	19
50 percent or more	56,642	4,058	7	16,518	30	17,785	33	15,884	29

Percent of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch
0–20 percent	49,397	1,860	4	8,822	19	23,577	51	12,040	26
21–50 percent	62,261	4,344	7	15,010	25	27,771	46	12,638	21
More than 50 percent	51,327	4,437	9	15,394	31	15,359	31	14,211	29

Percent of students below 15^th percentile on standardized tests
0–5 percent	36,082	2,874	8	8,203	24	14,349	42	8,654	25
6–15 percent	67,562	3,197	5	16,022	25	28,643	45	16,110	25
More than 15 percent	59,340	4,570	8	15,000	26	23,715	41	14,124	25

Percent of students likely to attend college
0–35 percent	44,126	4,165	10	11,340	27	17,321	41	9,631	23
36–60 percent	45,793	3,070	7	12,506	29	18,444	42	9,794	22
More than 60 percent	73,066	3,407	5	15,380	22	30,942	45	19,464	28

Percent of students who consider academic achievement important
0–25 percent	12,507	848	7	3,993	32	5,256	43	2,245	18
26–50 percent	41,016	2,567	7	9,566	25	17,210	44	9,549	25
51–75 percent	48,911	3,833	8	12,345	27	18,287	40	11,749	25
More than 75 percent	60,550	3,393	6	13,321	23	25,954	45	15,346	26

Percent male enrollment
0–44 percent	10,412	477	5	2,773	28	3,978	40	2,627	27
45–55 percent	141,531	9,214	7	34,101	25	58,863	44	32,613	24
More than 55 percent	11,042	950	9	2,352	22	3,866	36	3,649	34

Student-to-teacher ratio⁶
Less than 12 students	42,671	2,578	6	9,604	24	17,985	44	10,685	26
12–16 students	68,852	5,188	8	20,275	30	24,818	37	16,259	24
More than 16 students	51,461	2,875	6	9,346	19	23,904	50	11,944	25

Number of classroom changes⁷
0–3 changes	5,472	312	6	1,264	24	1,789	34	1,889	36
4–6 changes	84,754	6,654	8	19,422	24	34,688	43	19,996	25
More than 6 changes	72,759	3,675	5	18,540	27	30,230	44	17,004	24

Regular use of law enforcement⁸
Regular use	135,659	8,900	7	33,222	25	55,259	42	32,913	25
No regular use	27,325	1,742	7	6,004	24	11,448	45	5,976	24

Number of serious discipline problems⁹
No problems	73,993	4,716	7	18,097	26	30,087	43	17,605	25
1 problem	28,877	1,546	6	7,571	27	11,673	42	7,173	26
2 problems	23,997	2,138	10	5,812	26	8,585	38	5,909	26
3 or more problems	36,117	2,241	6	7,745	22	16,362	47	8,202	24

Transfers as a percentage of enrollment¹⁰
0 to 6 percent	27,545	2,022	8	3,365	13	14,251	55	6,104	24
6 to 11 percent	29,547	2,303	8	6,787	24	11,827	42	7,568	27
11 to 21 percent	52,578	3,054	6	12,169	24	22,072	44	12,733	25
21 percent or more	53,314	3,262	6	16,904	33	18,557	36	12,483	24

Prevalence of schoolwide disruptions¹¹
No disruptions	130,980	8,262	7	30,102	24	55,198	44	30,927	25
Any disruptions	32,005	2,379	8	9,124	29	11,509	37	7,961	26

Percent of students absent on a daily basis
0–2 percent	8,825	291	4	1,661	21	2,811	36	3,123	40
3–5 percent	60,803	4,070	7	16,863	29	21,713	38	14,928	26
6–10 percent	79,321	5,222	7	17,831	23	35,825	47	17,723	23
More than 10 percent	14,036	1,058	8	2,870	21	6,357	47	3,115	23

Prevalence of violent incidents¹²
No violent incidents	1,468	91	7	289	22	435	33	504	38
Any violent incidents	161,516	10,550	7	38,936	25	66,271	43	38,384	25
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 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.
⁴ 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."
⁵ These estimates exclude data from Tennessee because schools in this state did not report estimates of student race.
⁶ 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.
⁷ Respondents were asked, "How many classroom changes do most students make in a typical day?" Responses exclude morning arrival and afternoon departure.
⁸ 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?"
⁹ 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.
¹⁰ 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.
¹¹ 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.
¹² 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. 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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