Table 20.  Number and percentage distribution of serious disciplinary actions taken by public elementary schools, by selected school characteristics: 1999–2000


School characteristic Removals with no services  Transfers to specialized schools1   Out-of-school suspensions   Total removals and transfers
Number Percent   Number Percent   Number Percent   Number Percent
All public elementary schools 41,445 16   6,020 2   212,562 82   47,465 18
                       
Enrollment size                      
Less than 300 #   550 4   13,607 96   558 4
300–499 7,266 14   1,813 4   41,071 82   9,079 18
500–999 34,053 18   3,608 2   148,731 80   37,661 20
1,000 or more1   1   9,153 98   167 2
                       
Urbanicity                      
City 18,542 21   2,865 3   68,746 76   21,406 24
Urban fringe 17,160 21   2,425 3   63,694 76   19,585 24
Town 979 2   #   58,166 98   1,050 2
Rural 4,765 17   659 2   21,957 80   5,424 20
                       
Crime level where students live2                      
High 722 1   1,435 1   101,704 98   2,157 2
Moderate 16,750 30   2,137 4   36,486 66   18,886 34
Low 16,727 27   1,959 3   42,508 69   18,685 31
Mixed 18   490 1   31,864 80   7,737 20
                       
Percent minority enrollment2                      
0–5 percent 1,500 8   495 3   17,732 90   1,995 10
6–20 percent 9,545 12   775 1   66,087 86   10,320 14
21–50 percent 18,397 39   903 2   27,820 59   19,300 41
More than 50 percent 11,459 10   3,846 3   99,957 87   15,306 13
                       
Percent of students eligible for free/reduced-price lunch                      
0–20 percent 1,489 9   475 3   13,778 88   1,963 12
21–50 percent 37,893 53   2,041 3   31,283 44   39,934 56
More than 50 percent 2,064 1   3,504 2   167,501 97   5,568 3
                       
Percent of students below 15th percentile on standardized tests                      
0–5 percent 12,100 31   904 2   26,068 67   13,004 33
6–15 percent 20,324 16   2,108 2   100,830 82   22,432 18
More than 15 percent 9,021 9   3,008 3   85,665 88   12,029 12
                       
Percent of students likely to attend college                      
0–35 percent 9,984 9   3,792 3   94,667 87   13,776 13
36–60 percent 26,347 20   1,802 1   103,881 79   28,149 21
More than 60 percent 5,114 26   426 2   14,014 72   5,540 28
                       
Percent of students who consider academic achievement important                      
0–25 percent 2   987 5   20,299 93   1,468 7
26–50 percent 24,937 27   933 1   67,642 72   25,870 28
51–75 percent 11,446 10   2,388 2   105,443 88   13,834 12
More than 75 percent 4,581 18   1,712 7   19,178 75   6,293 25
                       
Percent male enrollment                      
0–44 percent 8,486 26   1,048 3   23,649 71   9,534 29
45–55 percent 28,999 15   4,123 2   157,139 83   33,123 17
More than 55 percent 11   849 2   31,775 87   4,809 13
                       
Student/teacher ratio2,3                      
Less than 12 10,813 24   1,121 2   32,999 73   11,934 27
12–16 3,341 3   2,530 2   103,739 95   5,872 5
More than 16 26,697 28   2,287 2   65,141 69   28,985 31
                       
Number of classroom changes2                      
0–3 changes 15,607 21   2,239 3   58,241 77   17,846 23
4–6 changes 8,748 6   2,966 2   127,116 92   11,714 8
More than 6 changes 17,090 40   715 2   24,508 58   17,805 42
                       
Use of paid law enforcement4                      
Regular use 8,041 7   4,030 4   102,143 89   12,072 11
No regular use 33,404 23   1,990 1   110,419 76   35,394 24
                       
Number of serious discipline problems5                      
No problems 22,130 24   2,189 2   66,149 73   24,318 27
1 problem 14,531 31   900 2   31,660 67   15,431 33
2 problems 11   1,973 5   31,008 84   5,953 16
3 or more problems 805 1   958 1   83,745 98   1,764 2
                       
Transfers as percentage of enrollment2,6                      
0 to 6 percent 1,718 12   626 4   12,442 84   2,344 16
6 to 11 percent 339 2   1,136 7   15,139 91   1,475 9
11 to 21 percent 10,079 20   1,023 2   38,380 78   11,102 22
21 percent or more 29,310 18   3,070 2   132,397 80   32,379 20
                       
Prevalence of schoolwide disruptions2,7                      
No disruptions 28,625 13   5,816 3   192,958 85   34,441 15
Any disruptions # #   204 1   15,876 99   204 1
                       
Percent of students absent without excuses                      
None 5,780 24   1,370 6   16,696 70   7,150 30
1–2 percent 1,453 4   1,495 4   37,273 93   2,948 7
3–5 percent 33,707 25   2,313 2   97,623 73   36,021 27
6–10 percent 181 #   556 1   48,806 99   737 1
More than 10 percent 3   286 2   12,164 95   610 5
                       
Prevalence of violent incidents2,8                      
No violent incidents 1,328 5   843 3   23,659 92   2,171 8
Any violent incidents 40,118 17   5,177 2   188,597 81   45,295 19
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. 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." Elementary schools are defined as schools in which the lowest grade is not higher than grade 3 and the highest grade is not higher than grade 8.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS), 2000.