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Table 8.  Number and percentage of public middle schools reporting incidents of hate crime and gang-related crime at school, the number of incidents reported, and the rate of incidents per 1,000 students, by selected school characteristics: School year 2003–04


  Hate crime1   Gang-related crime2
School characteristic Number of schools Percent of schools Number of incidents Rate per 1,000 students   Number of schools Percent of schools Number of incidents Rate per 1,000 students
All public schools  564 4 1,220 0.1   1,200 8 10,116 1.0
                   
Enrollment size                   
Less than 300  54 3 77 0.1   51 2 178 0.3
300–499  84 3 144 0.1   181 6 488 0.4
500–999  284 4 685 0.1   646 9 4,716 0.9
1,000 or more  141 6 314 0.1   322 15 4,734 1.7
                   
Urbanicity                   
City  196 6 574 0.2   693 20 7,689 2.8
Urban fringe  217 4 352 0.1   322 6 1,881 0.5
Town  79 3 198 0.2   126 6 336 0.3
Rural  72 2 96 0.1   58 2 210 0.1
                   
Crime level where students live3                  
High  21 2 118 0.1   280 26 4,741 5.4
Moderate  148 5 368 0.2   449 14 3,484 1.5
Low  245 3 453 0.1   148 2 350 0.1
Mixed  149 7 282 0.2   323 15 1,540 1.0
                   
Percent minority enrollment4                  
Less than 5 percent  110 4 217 0.2   50 2 50 #
5 to 20 percent  157 4 262 0.1   44 1 50 #
20 to 50 percent  155 5 341 0.1   256 8 1,470 0.6
50 percent or more  129 3 387 0.1   826 19 8,497 2.5
                   
Percent of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch                   
0–20 percent  157 5 184 0.1   87 3 645 0.3
21–50 percent  231 4 578 0.2   242 4 828 0.2
More than 50 percent  175 3 459 0.1   871 15 8,643 2.3
                   
Percent of students below 15th percentile on standardized tests                   
0–5 percent  94 3 244 0.1   162 5 837 0.4
6–15 percent  302 5 549 0.1   420 7 2,774 0.6
More than 15 percent  168 4 427 0.1   618 13 6,505 2.0
                   
Percent of students likely to attend college                   
0–35 percent  110 2 300 0.1   584 13 5,477 1.8
36–60 percent  255 6 646 0.2   400 9 3,980 1.3
More than 60 percent  199 4 274 0.1   216 4 659 0.2
                   
Percent of students who consider academic achievement important                   
0–25 percent  44 2 136 0.1   158 9 1,650 1.5
26–50 percent  82 3 244 0.1   307 9 2,561 1.2
51–75 percent  301 6 631 0.2   418 9 3,886 1.2
More than 75 percent  136 3 210 0.1   318 7 2,018 0.6
                   
Percent male enrollment                   
0–44 percent  14 2 14 #   99 12 1,262 2.5
45–55 percent  528 4 1,173 0.1   964 8 7,046 0.8
More than 55 percent  22 2 33 0.1   136 13 1,808 2.8
                   
Student-to-teacher ratio5                   
Less than 12 students  196 3 329 0.1   449 7 3,029 0.9
12–16 students  267 5 687 0.2   450 8 4,754 1.2
More than 16 students  100 4 205 0.1   301 11 2,332 0.9
                   
Number of classroom changes                   
0–3 changes  24 4 24 0.1   11 2 22 0.1
4–6 changes  227 4 418 0.1   543 10 6,655 1.7
More than 6 changes  313 4 779 0.1   646 8 3,439 0.6
                   
Regular use of law enforcement7                  
Regular use  373 4 874 0.1   1,061 11 9,536 1.4
No regular use  191 4 347 0.1   139 3 579 0.2
                   
Number of serious discipline problems8                   
No problems  155 2 307 0.1   331 5 1,004 0.2
1 problem  118 4 210 0.1   193 6 897 0.4
2 problems  107 5 205 0.1   209 9 2,101 1.3
3 or more problems  184 8 499 0.3   467 19 6,114 3.2
                   
Transfers as a percentage of enrollment9                   
0 to 6 percent  106 4 224 0.1   173 6 759 0.4
6 to 11 percent  91 3 107 0.1   162 5 2,279 1.1
11 to 21 percent  225 5 490 0.2   276 6 809 0.3
21 percent or more  142 4 398 0.1   590 15 6,268 2.2
                   
Prevalence of schoolwide disruptions10                   
No disruptions  486 4 1,121 0.1   882 7 7,005 0.8
Any disruptions  78 5 99 0.1   317 21 3,111 2.6
                   
Percent of students absent on a daily basis                   
0–2 percent  75 7 159 0.2   36 3 717 1.0
3–5 percent  248 3 473 0.1   554 7 3,374 0.6
6–10 percent  240 5 589 0.2   520 11 5,674 1.6
More than 10 percent  # # # #   89 14 350 0.8
# Rounds to zero.
1 A hate crime was defined for respondents as "a criminal offense or threat against a person, property, or society that is motivated, in whole or in part, by the offender's bias against a race, color, national origin, ethnicity, gender, religion, disability, or sexual orientation."
2 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."
3 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."
4 These estimates exclude data from Tennessee because schools in this state did not report estimates of student race.
5 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.
6 Respondents were asked, "How many classroom changes do most students make in a typical day?" Responses exclude morning arrival and afternoon departure.
7 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?"
8 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.
9 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.
10 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: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. Responses were provided by the principal or the person most knowledgeable about crime and safety issues at school.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS), 2004.