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Table 20.  Percentage distribution of public schools reporting selected percentages of parents or guardians that attended an open house or back-to-school night or regularly scheduled parent-teacher conferences, by selected school characteristics: School year 2003–04


School characteristic  Percent of students with a parent or guardian that attended an open house or back-to-school night   Percent of students with a parent or guardian that attended a regularly scheduled parent-teacher conference
0–25 per-
cent of students
26–50 per-
cent of students
51–75 per-
cent of students
76–100 per-
cent of students
School
does not offer
  0–25 per-
cent of students
26–50 per-
cent of students
51–75 per-
cent of students
76–100 per-
cent of students
School
does not offer
All public schools  5 17 31 44 3   7 16 23 50 4
                       
Level1                       
Primary  2 10 29 57 2   2 11 20 66 2
Middle  4 22 38 35 #   9 23 30 34 5
High school  15 32 34 12 7   18 31 27 14 9
Combined  17 26 25 22 9   14 19 31 29 7
                       
Enrollment size                       
Less than 300  6 14 26 48 6   6 9 19 63 2
300–499  5 13 30 49 3   4 17 21 54 3
500–999  4 18 34 43 1   7 17 27 47 3
1,000 or more  10 28 36 24 1   15 27 27 22 10
                       
Urbanicity                       
City  6 20 39 33 1   8 17 27 45 2
Urban fringe  4 13 28 54 1   6 14 22 53 5
Town  7 18 32 41 2   7 20 21 49 3
Rural  6 18 28 43 6   7 16 23 51 4
                       
Crime level where
students live2 
                     
High  9 37 29 21 4   10 31 30 26 4
Moderate  9 21 43 26 1   10 19 31 37 3
Low  4 13 27 53 4   5 13 20 58 4
Mixed  5 17 36 42 #   7 19 25 46 3
                       
Percent minority
enrollment3 
                     
Less than 5 percent  6 12 26 49 7   6 16 18 56 4
5 to 20 percent  3 10 24 61 2   4 11 19 61 5
20 to 50 percent  4 15 33 45 3   6 15 24 50 5
50 percent or more  7 26 38 28 1   10 20 30 39 2
                       
Percent of students
eligible for free or
reduced-price lunch 
                     
0–20 percent  3 7 21 65 4   4 10 18 62 6
21–50 percent  5 15 30 47 3   7 16 21 53 3
More than 50 percent  7 24 38 29 2   8 20 29 40 3
                       
Percent of students
below 15th percentile on
standardized tests 
                     
0–5 percent  4 10 24 58 3   4 13 17 63 3
6–15 percent  4 15 32 47 3   6 14 24 52 4
More than 15 percent  9 26 37 25 3   11 23 30 34 3
                       
Percent of students likely
to attend college 
                     
0–35 percent  8 25 34 31 3   10 21 26 39 3
36–60 percent  6 18 36 39 2   7 18 25 47 4
More than 60 percent  3 10 26 58 3   4 12 20 61 4
                       
Percent of students who consider
academic achievement important 
                     
0–25 percent  12 29 33 21 5   14 25 26 30 5
26–50 percent  8 21 35 32 4   9 19 28 40 4
51–75 percent  5 17 34 40 3   7 18 23 47 4
More than 75 percent  2 11 26 59 1   3 11 20 63 3
                       
Percent male enrollment                       
0–44 percent  6 20 26 46 3   6 18 23 52 1
45–55 percent  5 17 32 44 2   7 16 23 50 4
More than 55 percent  6 16 25 46 7   8 13 25 50 4
                       
Student-to-teacher ratio4                       
Less than 12 students  6 19 29 43 4   6 17 24 48 4
12–16 students  6 16 32 44 2   7 16 24 50 2
More than 16 students  4 15 33 46 2   6 14 21 55 4
                       
Number of classroom changes5                       
0–3 changes  3 8 34 54 1   3 10 22 63 2
4–6 changes  7 18 28 45 3   7 16 22 52 3
More than 6 changes  6 23 34 33 3   9 22 28 35 6
                       
Regular use of law enforcement6                       
Regular use  6 21 33 37 2   8 22 26 39 5
No regular use  5 13 29 50 3   5 12 22 59 3
                       
Number of serious
discipline problems7 
                     
No problems  4 14 28 50 3   5 15 22 56 3
1 problem  4 16 39 39 3   8 14 26 48 4
2 problems  8 23 37 30 3   8 21 26 39 6
3 or more problems  14 32 30 21 3   17 24 26 25 7
                       
Transfers as a percentage
of enrollment8 
                     
0 to 6 percent  5 12 25 52 5   6 14 18 58 4
6 to 11 percent  4 16 27 50 3   6 15 21 55 3
11 to 21 percent  5 15 32 46 1   6 16 25 50 4
21 percent or more  7 23 37 31 2   8 19 28 41 4
                       
Prevalence of schoolwide
disruptions9 
                     
No disruptions  5 16 31 45 3   6 15 23 52 3
Any disruptions  10 27 34 25 4   15 27 31 21 7
                       
Percent of students
absent on a daily basis 
                     
0–2 percent  3 8 20 61 8   4 6 15 70 5
3–5 percent  4 13 30 51 2   4 14 24 55 3
6–10 percent  8 26 36 27 3   11 23 25 35 5
More than 10 percent  13 19 34 33 1   12 17 24 44 3
                       
Prevalence of violent incidents10                       
No violent incidents  2 8 24 62 4   2 9 17 71 2
Any violent incidents  6 19 33 40 2   8 18 25 45 4
# Rounds to zero.
1 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 include all other combinations of grades, including K–12 schools.
2 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."
3 These estimates exclude data from Tennessee because schools in this state did not report estimates of student race.
4 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.
5 Respondents were asked, "How many classroom changes do most students make in a typical day?" Responses exclude morning arrival and afternoon departure.
6 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?"
7 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 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.
8 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.
9 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.
10 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: Detail may not sum to 100 percent 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.