Table 15. Number of students in public middle schools involved in the use or possession of a firearm or explosive device 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 15. Number of students in public middle schools involved in the use or possession of a firearm or explosive device at school, and the number and percentage of students receiving various disciplinary actions, by selected school characteristics: School year 2003–04

		Disciplinary actions taken for students involved in the use or possession of a firearm or explosive device 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
School characteristic	Number	Number	Percent	Number	Percent	Number	Percent	Number	Percent
All public schools	2,259	294	13	514	23	834	38	563	26

Enrollment size
Less than 300	#	#	†	#	†	#	†	#	†
300–499	138	40	29	59	43	38	28	#	#
500–999	1,051	216	21	147	14	374	37	279	27
1,000 or more	1,070	37	4	307	29	422	40	284	27

Urbanicity
City	1,066	99	10	282	27	356	34	294	29
Urban fringe	785	82	10	133	17	311	40	259	33
Town	132	79	60	26	20	26	20	#	#
Rural	275	34	13	72	28	141	55	9	4

Crime level where students live³
High	432	33	8	95	23	170	40	123	29
Moderate	694	79	11	194	28	242	35	179	26
Low	574	92	17	91	17	200	38	147	28
Mixed	558	89	16	134	24	221	40	114	20

Percent minority enrollment⁴
Less than 5 percent	90	#	#	18	20	63	70	9	10
5 to 20 percent	305	33	12	57	20	87	31	109	38
20 to 50 percent	502	48	10	89	19	203	43	137	29
50 percent or more	1,362	213	16	350	26	481	36	308	23

Percent of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch
0–20 percent	278	9	4	39	15	126	48	86	33
21–50 percent	726	165	23	136	19	246	34	179	25
More than 50 percent	1,255	120	10	339	28	462	38	298	24

Percent of students below 15^th percentile on standardized tests
0–5 percent	355	47	13	67	19	132	37	109	31
6–15 percent	772	89	12	152	21	223	31	264	36
More than 15 percent	1,132	157	14	294	26	480	43	190	17

Percent of students likely to attend college
0–35 percent	957	141	15	199	21	407	43	200	21
36–60 percent	759	79	11	205	29	131	18	300	42
More than 60 percent	543	73	14	110	20	297	55	63	12

Percent of students who consider academic achievement important
0–25 percent	116	14	12	30	26	36	31	36	31
26–50 percent	575	106	18	130	23	231	40	108	19
51–75 percent	983	118	12	234	24	311	32	320	33
More than 75 percent	584	56	10	120	23	256	48	98	18

Percent male enrollment
0–44 percent	316	43	14	87	28	130	41	56	18
45–55 percent	1,833	230	13	372	21	669	38	507	29
More than 55 percent	110	21	19	55	50	34	31	#	#

Student-to-teacher ratio⁵
Less than 12 students	445	51	12	116	26	199	45	79	18
12–16 students	999	155	16	191	20	350	36	274	28
More than 16 students	814	87	11	207	26	286	36	210	27

Number of classroom changes⁶
0–3 changes	27	17	61	#	#	11	39	#	#
4–6 changes	1,023	119	12	225	22	362	36	306	30
More than 6 changes	1,208	158	14	289	25	462	40	256	22

Regular use of law enforcement⁷
Regular use	1,859	242	13	425	23	675	37	487	27
No regular use	400	52	14	89	24	159	42	75	20

Number of serious discipline problems⁸
No problems	832	164	21	123	16	309	40	181	23
1 problem	317	21	7	117	37	94	30	84	27
2 problems	374	75	20	61	16	138	37	99	27
3 or more problems	736	33	5	213	29	292	40	198	27

Transfers as a percentage of enrollment⁹
0 to 6 percent	556	85	16	133	24	204	37	123	23
6 to 11 percent	360	33	10	104	30	181	53	23	7
11 to 21 percent	712	55	8	112	16	252	35	293	41
21 percent or more	630	121	20	165	27	197	32	124	20

Prevalence of schoolwide disruptions¹⁰
No disruptions	1,988	239	12	468	24	706	37	521	27
Any disruptions	270	55	20	45	17	128	47	42	16

Percent of students absent on a daily basis
0–2 percent	239	#	#	44	19	88	37	107	45
3–5 percent	938	138	15	206	23	380	42	171	19
6–10 percent	1,009	156	16	234	23	347	35	261	26
More than 10 percent	73	#	#	30	41	19	26	24	33

Prevalence of violent incidents¹¹
No violent incidents	11	#	#	11	100	#	#	#	#
Any violent incidents	2,248	294	13	503	23	834	38	563	26
‡ Not applicable.
# Rounds to zero.
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 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.
¹¹ 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. 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.

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