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Table 18.  Number and percentage distribution of disciplinary actions taken for use of a weapon other than a firearm in public middle schools, by selected school characteristics: 1999–2000


School characteristic Total offenses   Removals   Transfers to specialized schools1   Out-of-school suspensions   Other   No disciplinary action
Number   Number Percent   Number Percent   Number Percent   Number Percent   Number Percent
All public middle schools 2,732   316 12   705 26   1,064 39   628 23  
                                 
Enrollment size                                
Less than 300 394   # #       171 43   # #
300–499 363   # #     256 71    
500–999 1,492   212 14   414 28   522 35   344 23   # #
1,000 or more483     196 41   113 23     # #
                                 
Urbanicity                                
City 741   122 16   326 44   207 28    
Urban fringe 1,115   175 16   294 26   402 36   243 22   # #
Town 235       137 58   48 20   # #
Rural 642   # #   54 8   317 49   271 42   # #
                                 
Crime level where students live2                                
High 408   92 23   253 62   62 15   # #   # #
Moderate 717     207 29   274 38   176 25   # #
Low 967   61 6   144 15   325 34   416 43  
Mixed 642     101 16   403 63     # #
                                 
Percent minority enrollment2                                
0–5 percent 533   # #     235 44   261 49   # #
6–20 percent 549   61 11   78 14   226 41   164 30  
21–50 percent 653     142 22   239 37   161 25   # #
More than 50 percent 997   144 14   448 45   363 36     # #
                                 
Percent of students eligible for free/reduced-price lunch                                
0–20 percent 574     82 14   167 29   310 54   # #
21–50 percent 993   169 17   225 23   399 40   180 18  
More than 50 percent 1,165   131 11   399 34   498 43   138 12   # #
                                 
Percent of students below 15th percentile on standardized tests                                
0–5 percent 374       76 20   207 55  
6–15 percent 1,171   130 11   265 23   551 47   226 19   # #
More than 15 percent 1,187   152 13   402 34   437 37   195 16   # #
                                 
Percent of students likely to attend college                                
0–35 percent 976     367 38   435 45   136 14   # #
36–60 percent 974   240 25   197 20   335 34   182 19  
More than 60 percent 783     141 18   293 37   310 40   # #
                                 
Percent of students who consider academic achievement important                                
0–25 percent 344     130 38   69 20     # #
26–50 percent 857     177 21   433 50   102 12   # #
51–75 percent 1,057   133 13   300 28   411 39   214 20   # #
More than 75 percent 475     98 21   151 32   191 40  
                                 
Percent male enrollment                                
0–44 percent 447     141 31   163 36     # #
45–55 percent 2,111   186 9   468 22   847 40   591 28  
More than 55 percent 174   # #   97 56   54 31     # #
                                 
Student/teacher ratio2,3                                
Less than 12 762     270 35   231 30   182 24  
12–16 988   183 19   115 12   462 47   227 23   # #
More than 16 877   73 8   320 37   318 36   166 19   # #
                                 
Number of classroom changes2                                
0–3 changes   # #   # #       # #
4–6 changes 923   77 8   300 33   477 52   69 7   # #
More than 6 changes 1,174   239 20   346 29   308 26   261 22  
                                 
Use of paid law enforcement4                                
Regular use 2,328   300 13   691 30   757 33   560 24  
No regular use 405       306 76   68 17   # #
                                 
Number of serious discipline problems5                                
No problems 486     85 18   208 43   177 36   # #
1 problem 567     144 25   330 58   69 12   # #
2 problems 405     91 22   144 36   93 23  
3 or more problems 1,275   220 17   385 30   381 30   289 23   # #
                                 
Transfers as percentage of enrollment2,6                                
0 to 6 percent 527     213 40   123 23   135 26   # #
6 to 11 percent 437   45 10   83 19   162 37    
11 to 21 percent 683     92 13   438 64   115 17   # #
21 percent or more 1,001   175 18   291 29   306 31   229 23   # #
                                 
Prevalence of schoolwide disruptions2,7                                
No disruptions 1,746   163 9   358 21   753 43   452 26  
Any disruptions 890   152 17   311 35   266 30   160 18   # #
                                 
Percent of students absent without excuses                                
None 222   # #     104 47   67 30  
1–2 percent 795   95 12   157 20   352 44   190 24   # #
3–5 percent 900   54 6   190 21   417 46   239 27   # #
6–10 percent 380     223 59     80 21   # #
More than 10 percent 435     104 24   150 34     # #
                                 
Prevalence of violent incidents2,8                                
No violent incidents 193   # #         # #
Any violent incidents 2,540   316 12   649 26   1,031 41   524 21  
# Rounds to zero.
‡ Reporting standards not met.
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 Some schools are omitted from these categories because of missing data on their school characteristics. For this reason, the detailed results do not sum to the totals. See appendix J of 2000 School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS) Detailed Data Documentation (NCES 2004-307) for further information.
3 Student/teacher ratio was calculated by dividing the total number of students enrolled in the school by the total number of full-time equivalent teachers. The total number of full-time equivalent teachers is a combination of the full-time and part-time teachers, including special education teachers, with an adjustment to compensate for the part-time status.
4 Schools were included as regularly using paid law enforcement if they reported the use of paid law enforcement during any of the following times: at any time during school hours, while students were arriving or leaving, at selected school activities (e.g., athletic and social events, open houses, science fairs), or at any other time that the respondent specified.
5 Serious discipline problems is a count of discipline problems reported by principals. These discipline problems include student racial tensions, student bullying, student verbal abuse of teachers, widespread disorder in classrooms, and student acts of disrespect for teachers. If a principal 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. Undesirable gang activities and undesirable cult or extremist group activities were also counted once as a problem if the principal reported that these events occurred at all in their school.
6 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.
7 Schoolwide disruptions include actions that disrupted school activities such as bomb threats or anthrax threats. Respondents were instructed to exclude all fire alarms, including false alarms.
8 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 totals because of rounding. "At school/at your school" was defined for respondents as including activities happening in school buildings, on school grounds, on school buses, and at places that are holding school-sponsored events or activities. Respondents were instructed to, unless the survey specified otherwise, only respond for those times that were during normal school hours or when school activities/events were in session. "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." "Firearm/explosive device" was defined for respondents as, "any weapon that is designed to (or may readily be converted to) expel a projectile by the action of an explosive. This includes guns, bombs, grenades, mines, rockets, missiles, pipe bombs, or similar devices designed to explode and capable of causing bodily harm or property damage." A gang was defined for respondents as, "an ongoing loosely organized association of three or more persons, whether formal or informal, that has a common name, signs, symbols or colors, whose members engage, either individually or collectively, in violent or other forms of illegal behavior." 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.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS), 2000.