Table 2. Number and percentage of public high schools reporting incidents of crime that occurred at school to police, the number of incidents reported to police, and the rate of incidents reported to police per 1,000 students, by incident type and selected school characteristics: School year 2003–04

School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS)

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Table 2. Number and percentage of public high schools reporting incidents of crime that occurred at school to police, the number of incidents reported to police, and the rate of incidents reported to police per 1,000 students, by incident type and selected school characteristics: School year 2003–04—Continued (Return to Table 2)

School characteristic	Theft reported to police³				Other incidents reported to police⁴
School characteristic	Num- ber of schools	Per- cent of schools	Num- ber of incidents	Rate per 1,000 students	Num- ber of schools	Per- cent of schools	Num- ber of incidents	Rate per 1,000 students
All public schools	7,289	67	60,518	5.2	9,520	88	132,541	11.4

Enrollment size
Less than 300	605	37	2,587	7.1	1,039	64	4,396	12.1
300–499	817	52	2,954	4.4	1,227	78	5,185	7.7
500–999	1,970	71	11,668	5.6	2,535	92	22,861	10.9
1,000 or more	3,897	80	43,310	5.1	4,720	97	100,099	11.8

Urbanicity
City	1,785	76	16,744	4.9	2,154	91	44,892	13.2
Urban fringe	2,729	77	28,598	5.7	3,210	91	50,013	10.0
Town	1,155	66	6,951	5.3	1,565	89	15,446	11.9
Rural	1,621	51	8,225	4.3	2,591	81	22,190	11.5

Crime level where students live⁵
High	455	82	5,433	7.4	506	91	15,062	20.7
Moderate	1,495	68	13,768	5.3	2,108	95	32,576	12.5
Low	4,228	65	30,176	4.9	5,483	85	59,887	9.7
Mixed	1,111	70	11,141	5.2	1,424	89	25,016	11.6

Percent minority enrollment⁶
Less than 5 percent	1,541	60	8,553	5.4	2,057	80	15,500	9.8
5 to 20 percent	1,957	70	16,609	5.5	2,464	88	29,745	9.8
20 to 50 percent	1,823	72	16,306	5.4	2,268	90	32,464	10.7
50 percent or more	1,856	67	18,480	4.9	2,541	92	52,175	14.0

Percent of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch
0–20 percent	2,893	77	25,646	5.5	3,234	86	43,480	9.4
21–50 percent	2,798	62	21,926	4.9	3,954	88	49,616	11.0
More than 50 percent	1,598	63	12,946	5.2	2,332	91	39,444	15.9

Percent of students below 15^th percentile on standardized tests
0–5 percent	2,025	69	14,866	4.9	2,458	83	29,008	9.5
6–15 percent	3,252	68	26,812	5.1	4,236	88	52,713	10.0
More than 15 percent	2,013	66	18,840	5.7	2,827	92	50,819	15.3

Percent of students likely to attend college
0–35 percent	1,303	62	10,950	5.4	1,857	89	30,435	15.1
36–60 percent	2,101	65	15,859	5.0	2,867	89	35,793	11.2
More than 60 percent	3,885	70	33,708	5.2	4,796	87	66,313	10.3

Percent of students who consider academic achievement important
0–25 percent	532	60	4,122	6.1	740	84	7,583	11.3
26–50 percent	1,427	66	12,712	5.9	1,870	86	32,475	15.2
51–75 percent	2,474	72	19,548	5.3	3,188	92	41,720	11.4
More than 75 percent	2,857	66	24,136	4.7	3,722	86	50,762	9.9

Percent male enrollment
0–44 percent	591	65	4,629	5.6	751	83	10,308	12.5
45–55 percent	6,252	69	52,247	5.1	8,141	90	112,865	11.0
More than 55 percent	446	51	3,642	6.5	628	71	9,368	16.8

Student-to-teacher ratio⁷
Less than 12 students	2,469	59	14,300	5.2	3,418	82	29,147	10.6
12–16 students	2,913	71	26,361	5.3	3,781	92	56,756	11.5
More than 16 students	1,907	75	19,857	5.0	2,321	91	46,638	11.8

Number of classroom changes⁸
0–3 changes	375	68	3,366	6.2	487	88	5,068	9.4
4–6 changes	3,584	68	32,878	5.5	4,657	89	73,046	12.1
More than 6 changes	3,331	66	24,274	4.8	4,376	87	54,428	10.7

Regular use of law enforcement⁹
Regular use	5,787	75	55,134	5.4	7,172	92	118,482	11.7
No regular use	1,502	49	5,384	3.6	2,348	77	14,059	9.3

Number of serious discipline problems¹⁰
No problems	4,182	62	25,030	4.0	5,685	84	61,248	9.7
1 problem	1,245	76	12,812	6.6	1,513	92	23,586	12.2
2 problems	892	74	7,586	5.2	1,164	97	16,967	11.6
3 or more problems	970	80	15,090	8.0	1,159	95	30,739	16.3

Transfers as a percentage of enrollment¹¹
0 to 6 percent	1,734	67	12,126	4.8	2,147	83	24,022	9.4
6 to 11 percent	1,381	64	13,276	6.6	1,844	85	22,014	10.9
11 to 21 percent	2,340	69	18,604	4.8	3,026	90	43,191	11.2
21 percent or more	1,835	68	16,511	5.2	2,503	93	43,315	13.5

Prevalence of schoolwide disruptions¹²
No disruptions	5,998	65	47,921	5.1	7,984	87	98,539	10.4
Any disruptions	1,291	79	12,597	5.8	1,537	94	34,001	15.8

Percent of students absent on a daily basis
0–2 percent	437	66	2,637	5.2	528	79	5,146	10.1
3–5 percent	2,573	63	18,949	4.5	3,451	85	41,457	9.9
6–10 percent	3,403	71	31,354	5.5	4,372	91	67,331	11.9
More than 10 percent	877	69	7,578	6.1	1,169	92	18,606	15.0
¹ 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.
² Serious violent incidents include rape, sexual battery other than rape, physical attack or fight with a weapon, threat of physical attack with a weapon, and robbery with or without a weapon.
³ Theft or larceny (taking things worth over $10 without personal confrontation) was defined for respondents as "the unlawful taking of another person's property without personal confrontation, threat, violence, or bodily harm. Included are pocket picking, stealing purse or backpack (if left unattended or no force was used to take it from owner), theft from a building, theft from a motor vehicle or of motor vehicle parts or accessories, theft of bicycles, theft from vending machines, and all other types of thefts."
⁴ Other incidents include possession of a firearm or explosive device, possession of a knife or sharp object, distribution of illegal drugs, possession or use of alcohol or illegal drugs, and vandalism.
⁵ 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."
⁶ These estimates exclude data from Tennessee because schools in this state did not report estimates of student race.
⁷ 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.
⁸ Respondents were asked, "How many classroom changes do most students make in a typical day?" Responses exclude morning arrival and afternoon departure.
⁹ 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?"
¹⁰ 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.
¹¹ 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.
¹² 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: "At school" was defined for respondents to include activities that happen in school buildings, on school grounds, on school buses, and at places that hold school-sponsored events or activities. 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 the school.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS), 2004.

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