Table 31. Percentage of public middle schools reporting that their efforts to reduce or prevent crime at school were limited in a major or minor way due to specified non-school-level factors, by selected school characteristics: School year 2005

School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS)

Publications & Products|SSOCS & SCS Table Library|Staff

Back

Download Excel

(55 KB)

Download SE Excel

(43 KB)

Table 31. Percentage of public middle schools reporting that their efforts to reduce or prevent crime at school were limited in a major or minor way due to specified non-school-level factors, by selected school characteristics: School year 2005–06
School characteristic	Inadequate funds	Fear of district or state reprisal		Federal, state, or district policies on disciplining special education students¹	Other federal policies on discipline and safety		Other state or district policies on discipline and safety
All public schools	59	16		54	30		30

Enrollment size
Less than 300	55	18		50	35		34
300–499	66	16		52	28		26
500–999	58	16		57	27		29
1,000 or more	59	17		57	32		32

Urbanicity
City	66	19		60	36		40
Urban fringe	57	15		49	26		26
Town	71	22		64	33		31
Rural	51	13		53	28		27

Crime level where students live²
High	71	34		61	45		48
Moderate	66	18		57	36		36
Low	54	14		49	25		25
Mixed	66	14		65	32		33

Percent minority enrollment³
Less than 5 percent	50	13		46	27		26
5 to less than 20 percent	57	11		51	25		25
20 to less than 50 percent	64	13		62	31		30
50 percent or more	63	24		55	34		36

Percent of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch
0–20 percent	48	9		40	21		20
21–50 percent	61	17		58	30		29
More than 50 percent	65	20		60	35		37

Percent of students below 15th percentile on standardized tests
0–5 percent	50	15		45	22		21
6–15 percent	65	15		58	33		32
More than 15 percent	61	20		59	32		36

Percent of students likely to attend college
0–35 percent	66	19		60	36		36
36–60 percent	61	19		59	32		34
More than 60 percent	54	13		47	23		22

Percent of students who consider academic achievement important
0–25 percent	71	17		66	37		37
26–50 percent	67	25		64	39		41
51–75 percent	58	14		55	29		30
More than 75 percent	52	12		45	22		20

Percent male enrollment
0–44 percent	70	28		58	36		41
45–55 percent	59	15		55	29		29
More than 55 percent	53	23		50	30		30

Student-to-FTE ratio⁴
Less than 12 students	55	17		49	28		27
12–16 students	64	17		59	32		33
More than 16 students	60	14		59	28		31

Number of classroom changes⁵
0–3 changes	52	16	!	51	27	!	30	!
4–6 changes	61	16		57	30		30
More than 6 changes	59	17		53	30		30

Regular use of law enforcement⁶
Regular use	63	18		57	32		32
No regular use	52	13		50	25		25

Number of serious discipline problems⁷
No problems	50	12		44	21		20
1 problem	61	15		56	32		31
2 problems	64	21		60	42		43
3 or more problems	79	26		77	41		45

Transfers as a percentage of enrollment⁸
Less than 6 percent	54	20		47	30		28
6 to less than 11 percent	58	12		54	26		25
11 to less than 21 percent	59	16		52	28		28
21 percent or more	64	17		62	34		36

Prevalence of schoolwide disruptions⁹
No disruptions	58	15		53	28		28
Any disruptions	74	31		67	46		46

Percent of students absent on a daily basis
0–2 percent	50	17		46	21		24
3–5 percent	58	14		53	29		28
6–10 percent	62	16		55	30		31
More than 10 percent	68	35		72	46		48

Prevalence of violent incidents¹⁰
No violent incidents	32	‡		22	13	!	11	!
Any violent incidents	61	17		56	31		31
! Interpret data with caution. The standard error for this estimate is from 30 percent to 50 percent of the estimate’s value.
‡ Reporting standards not met. The standard error for this estimate is equal to 50 percent or more of the estimate's value.
¹ A special education student was defined for respondents as "a child with a disability, defined as mental retardation, hearing impairments (including deafness), speech or language impairments, visual impairments (including blindness), serious emotional disturbance, orthopedic impairments, autism, traumatic brain injury, other health impairments, or specific learning disabilities, and who needs special education and related services and receives these under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)."
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 Responding schools that did not have race/ethnicity on the sampling frame (2 percent of schools) are excluded from the base.
⁴ Student-to-FTE 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 2005–2006 school year, did you have any sworn law enforcement officers, security guards, or security personnel present at your school at least once a week?"
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 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.
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 or attempted 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: Respondents were asked to rate the level of limitation in their school’s efforts to reduce or prevent crime for each factor. Survey response options included “limit in major way,” “limit in minor way,” or “does not limit." The estimates in this table represent only those schools that reported limitations in a major or minor way. Responses were provided by the principal or the person most knowledgeable about crime and safety issues at the school. 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 (NCES), 2005–06 School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS), 2006.

Back

Download Excel

(55 KB)

Download SE Excel

(43 KB)