Table 16. Number of students in public primary schools involved in the use or possession of a weapon other than a firearm at school, and the number and percentage of students receiving various disciplinary actions, by selected school characteristics: School year 2003

Crime and Safety Surveys

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Table 16. Number of students in public primary schools involved in the use or possession of a weapon other than a firearm 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 weapon other than a firearm 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	20,295	180	1	774	4	4,878	26	13,158	69

Enrollment size
Less than 300	1,886	106	7	#	#	529	34	933	60
300–499	8,927	73	1	322	4	1,889	22	6,247	73
500–999	8,548	#	#	396	5	1,867	23	5,846	72
1,000 or more	933	#	#	56	7	592	76	131	17

Urbanicity
City	10,904	#	#	602	6	2,322	22	7,606	72
Urban fringe	4,719	73	2	114	3	1,814	41	2,375	54
Town	1,936	#	#	#	#	340	18	1,596	82
Rural	2,735	106	5	57	3	402	19	1,582	74

Crime level where students live³
High	2,363	#	#	224	9	903	38	1,236	52
Moderate	4,447	#	#	137	3	1,529	35	2,667	62
Low	6,022	106	2	115	2	1,602	30	3,443	65
Mixed	7,463	73	1	297	4	844	12	5,812	83

Percent minority enrollment⁴
Less than 5 percent	1,484	106	9	#	#	165	15	854	76
5 to 20 percent	2,756	#	#	115	5	436	17	1,978	78
20 to 50 percent	3,616	73	2	#	#	1,389	42	1,869	56
50 percent or more	12,324	#	#	658	5	2,887	24	8,457	70

Percent of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch


0–20 percent	1,364	#	#	58	4	190	14	1,115	82
21–50 percent	4,548	#	#	57	2	1,059	28	2,656	70
More than 50 percent	14,383	180	1	658	5	3,628	26	9,387	68

Percent of students below 15th percentile on standardized tests

0–5 percent	3,600	#	#	57	2	981	29	2,350	69
6–15 percent	6,406	73	1	307	5	1,826	32	3,520	61
More than 15 percent	10,289	106	1	410	4	2,070	21	7,288	74

Percent of students likely to attend college
Percent of students likely to attend college
0–35 percent	11,466	73	1	354	3	2,290	21	7,936	74
36–60 percent	4,909	106	2	168	4	1,413	32	2,786	62
More than 60 percent	3,920	#	#	252	7	1,174	30	2,436	63

Percent of students who consider academic achievement important

0–25 percent	2,131	#	#	112	5	342	17	1,618	78
26–50 percent	8,688	#	#	298	4	2,219	28	5,365	68
51–75 percent	4,755	73	2	114	2	676	15	3,719	81
More than 75 percent	4,721	106	2	250	6	1,641	37	2,456	55

Percent male enrollment
0–44 percent	1,088	#	#	#	#	314	47	357	53
45–55 percent	12,414	106	1	475	4	3,594	30	7,786	65
More than 55 percent	6,793	73	1	299	5	970	15	5,015	79

Student-to-teacher ratio⁵
Less than 12 students	6,671	180	3	138	2	1,640	27	4,184	68
12–16 students	10,735	#	#	522	5	2,139	21	7,357	73
More than 16 students	2,888	#	#	114	4	1,099	39	1,617	57

Number of classroom changes⁶
0–3 changes	5,482	#	#	364	7	1,759	34	3,054	59
4–6 changes	12,073	180	2	298	3	2,092	19	8,596	77
More than 6 changes	2,740	#	#	112	4	1,027	39	1,508	57

Regular use of law enforcement⁷
Regular use	8,157	#	#	338	5	2,772	38	4,230	58
No regular use	12,138	180	2	436	4	2,105	18	8,928	77

Number of serious discipline problems⁸
Number of serious discipline problems⁸
No problems	9,418	106	1	532	6	3,091	35	5,022	57
1 problem	7,745	73	1	241	3	1,121	15	5,987	81
2 problems	957	#	#	#	#	349	36	608	64
3 or more problems	2,175	#	#	#	#	317	17	1,541	83

Transfers as a percentage of enrollment⁹
Transfers as a percentage of enrollment⁹
0 to 6 percent	1,593	#	#	80	5	447	28	1,065	67
6 to 11 percent	2,251	#	#	56	3	927	43	1,151	54
11 to 21 percent	4,876	#	#	340	7	1,440	30	3,023	63
21 percent or more	11,575	180	2	297	3	2,063	20	7,919	76

Prevalence of schoolwide disruptions¹⁰
Prevalence of schoolwide disruptions¹⁰
No disruptions	18,877	180	1	662	4	4,629	26	12,101	69
Any disruptions	1,417	#	#	112	8	249	18	1,057	75

Percent of students absent on a daily basis
Percent of students absent on a daily basis
0–2 percent	975	#	#	57	6	522	53	396	41
3–5 percent	12,714	180	2	436	4	2,592	22	8,602	73
6–10 percent	6,059	#	#	224	4	1,594	28	3,953	68
More than 10 percent	547	#	#	56	13	170	39	207	48

Prevalence of violent incidents¹¹
No violent incidents	793	#	#	57	7	297	37	439	55
Any violent incidents	19,502	180	1	716	4	4,581	25	12,719	70
# 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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