Table 16. Number of students in public high 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

School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS)

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Table 16. Number of students in public high 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

School characteristic		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
	Number	Number	Percent	Number	Percent	Number	Percent	Number	Percent
All public schools	15,709	1,544	10	5,201	34	6,328	42	2,108	14

Enrollment size
Less than 300	196	29	15	48	25	69	35	49	25
300–499	739	98	13	161	22	290	39	190	26
500–999	2,611	326	13	552	21	1,224	47	497	19
1,000 or more	12,163	1,090	9	4,440	38	4,745	41	1,371	12

Urbanicity
City	5,717	484	9	2,186	40	2,125	38	732	13
Urban fringe	6,201	570	9	2,245	37	2,678	45	515	9
Town	1,809	217	13	352	20	707	41	448	26
Rural	1,982	273	14	418	22	819	43	412	21

Crime level where students live³
High	2,297	127	6	828	36	1,019	44	323	14
Moderate	4,633	610	13	1,938	43	1,685	37	325	7
Low	5,776	534	10	1,550	28	2,307	41	1,182	21
Mixed	3,003	273	10	884	32	1,317	48	278	10

Percent minority enrollment⁴
Less than 5 percent	1,290	113	9	107	8	571	45	479	38
5 to 20 percent	2,953	327	12	572	20	1,385	49	530	19
20 to 50 percent	3,914	562	15	1,138	31	1,585	43	444	12
50 percent or more	7,410	506	7	3,327	46	2,769	38	625	9

Percent of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch
0–20 percent	4,083	522	13	1,142	29	1,669	43	572	15
21–50 percent	6,478	604	10	2,183	35	2,643	43	788	13
More than 50 percent	5,148	418	8	1,876	37	2,016	40	747	15

Percent of students below 15^th percentile on standardized tests
0–5 percent	2,980	334	12	788	28	1,398	50	283	10
6–15 percent	5,749	477	9	1,626	29	2,508	45	994	18
More than 15 percent	6,979	732	11	2,787	41	2,422	36	830	12

Percent of students likely to attend college
0–35 percent	4,196	457	11	1,207	29	1,896	46	552	13
36–60 percent	3,796	390	10	1,252	34	1,559	42	518	14
More than 60 percent	7,717	696	9	2,742	37	2,873	39	1,038	14

Percent of students who consider academic achievement important
0–25 percent	1,178	188	16	376	32	523	45	72	6
26–50 percent	3,203	356	11	965	31	1,305	42	487	16
51–75 percent	5,195	559	11	1,762	35	1,952	39	725	15
More than 75 percent	6,133	441	7	2,097	35	2,548	43	823	14

Percent male enrollment
0–44 percent	1,075	169	17	323	33	326	33	166	17
45–55 percent	13,806	1,336	10	4,590	34	5,606	42	1,865	14
More than 55 percent	827	39	5	289	36	397	50	76	10

Student-to-teacher ratio⁵
Less than 12 students	3,425	258	8	947	28	1,604	48	550	16
12–16 students	5,722	657	12	2,018	37	1,939	35	906	16
More than 16 students	6,562	629	10	2,235	35	2,785	44	651	10

Number of classroom changes⁶
0–3 changes	523	87	17	207	40	167	32	55	11
4–6 changes	9,157	1,107	13	2,890	33	3,546	40	1,237	14
More than 6 changes	6,029	350	6	2,104	36	2,616	44	816	14

Regular use of law enforcement⁷
Regular use	14,171	1,368	10	4,929	36	5,718	42	1,673	12
No regular use	1,538	175	12	272	18	610	41	435	29

Number of serious discipline problems⁸
No problems	7,519	649	9	2,623	36	2,847	39	1,108	15
1 problem	2,564	273	11	748	29	1,149	45	371	15
2 problems	2,022	225	11	538	27	985	50	233	12
3 or more problems	3,603	397	12	1,292	38	1,347	39	396	12

Transfers as a percentage of enrollment⁹
0 to 6 percent	2,735	239	9	681	26	1,303	49	412	16
6 to 11 percent	2,099	297	14	681	33	871	42	217	11
11 to 21 percent	5,370	464	9	2,017	39	1,905	37	806	16
21 percent or more	5,505	545	10	1,821	34	2,249	43	672	13

Prevalence of schoolwide disruptions¹⁰
No disruptions	11,867	1,192	10	3,740	33	5,045	44	1,507	13
Any disruptions	3,842	352	10	1,460	40	1,283	35	600	16

Percent of students absent on a daily basis
0–2 percent	457	56	12	207	45	116	25	78	17
3–5 percent	3,990	381	10	1,320	34	1,512	40	614	16
6–10 percent	8,512	881	11	2,674	33	3,357	41	1,271	16
More than 10 percent	2,749	226	8	1,000	37	1,343	49	144	5

Prevalence of violent incidents¹¹
No violent incidents	39	29	74	#	#	#	#	10	26
Any violent incidents	15,670	1,515	10	5,201	34	6,328	42	2,097	14
# 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 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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