Table 31. Percentage of public primary 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

Crime and Safety Surveys

Publications & Products|SSOCS & SCS Table Library|Staff

Back

Download Excel

(54 KB)

Download SE Excel

(44 KB)

Table 31. Percentage of public primary 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	45	11		38	20		20

Enrollment size
Less than 300	43	13		35	20		18
300–499	44	9		37	19		19
500–999	46	11		41	21		21
1,000 or more	53	‡		54	22	!	22	!

Urbanicity
City	48	14		44	25		26
Urban fringe	38	7		33	13		15
Town	55	17	!	39	26		27
Rural	46	10		40	21		17

Crime level where students live²
High	50	15	!	43	20		27
Moderate	57	20		48	30		29
Low	41	8		35	17		16
Mixed	38	‡		36	16		17

Percent minority enrollment³
Less than 5 percent	43	10	!	39	20		19
5 to less than 20 percent	40	6	!	33	13		12
20 to less than 50 percent	38	10		38	22		20
50 percent or more	52	16		41	22		24

Percent of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch
0–20 percent	34	5	!	28	13		13
21–50 percent	42	9		43	22		20
More than 50 percent	51	14		41	22		22

Percent of students below 15th percentile on standardized tests
0–5 percent	36	8		36	16		15
6–15 percent	45	9		37	19		19
More than 15 percent	58	19		45	28		29

Percent of students likely to attend college
0–35 percent	57	13		47	25		26
36–60 percent	41	10		38	19		18
More than 60 percent	39	10		32	17		17

Percent of students who consider academic achievement important
0–25 percent	55	17	!	45	24	!	23	!
26–50 percent	51	14		40	22		23
51–75 percent	54	13		48	24		23
More than 75 percent	36	8		32	17		17

Percent male enrollment
0–44 percent	51	12	!	36	19	!	19	!
45–55 percent	44	10		39	20		20
More than 55 percent	46	13		35	19		16

Student-to-FTE ratio⁴
Less than 12 students	45	13		38	21		20
12–16 students	42	8		40	20		20
More than 16 students	50	10	!	38	17		19

Number of classroom changes⁵
0–3 changes	43	12		34	19		19
4–6 changes	44	10		42	20		21
More than 6 changes	54	9	!	42	22		18

Regular use of law enforcement⁶
Regular use	49	12		45	21		22
No regular use	43	10		36	20		19

Number of serious discipline problems⁷
No problems	39	8		34	16		15
1 problem	56	15		43	29		29
2 problems	59	19	!	57	26		34
3 or more problems	78	28		60	42		41
	38	9	!	32	14		13
Transfers as a percentage of enrollment⁸
Less than 6 percent	38	9	!	32	14		13
6 to less than 11 percent	43	6	!	33	17		16
11 to less than 21 percent	45	11		43	23		22
21 percent or more	48	15		42	22		24

Prevalence of schoolwide disruptions⁹
No disruptions	44	11		38	20		20
Any disruptions	69	‡		40	18	!	22	!

Percent of students absent on a daily basis
0–2 percent	42	‡		23	10	!	11	!
3–5 percent	43	11		39	21		20
6–10 percent	48	14		46	25		25
More than 10 percent	51	14	!	37	13	!	15	!

Prevalence of violent incidents¹⁰
No violent incidents	25	6		23	11		9
Any violent incidents	54	13		46	24		25
! 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. Primary 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 (NCES), 2005–06 School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS), 2006.

Back

Download Excel

(54 KB)

Download SE Excel

(44 KB)