Table 26.1  Percentage of public high schools that monitored campus in specified ways, by selected school characteristics: School year 2015–16

  Percentage of schools that monitored access to campus in specified ways
School characteristic Require visitors to sign or check in and wear badges   Control access to school buildings during school hours1   Control access to school grounds during school hours2   Equip classrooms with locks so that doors can be locked from the inside3   Close the campus for most students during lunch   Provide school lockers to students  
All public high schools 91.0   89.6   45.3   64.9   66.1   80.3  
                         
Enrollment size                        
Less than 300 68.0   90.1   33.5   68.0   49.1   67.9  
300–499 93.1   90.1   35.3   73.0   62.1   82.6  
500–999 92.9   88.3   40.2   62.0   70.7   86.0  
1,000 or more 99.1   89.9   57.2   62.2   72.5   81.7  
                         
Locale                        
City 92.3   90.5   58.0   67.1   58.9   64.7  
Suburb 96.2   90.4   54.4   61.0   74.1   82.1  
Town 90.0   84.6   31.6   69.5   55.5   87.5  
Rural 84.2   90.9   30.9   64.5   70.6   89.1  
                         
Crime level where students live4                        
High 88.7   84.4   67.3   61.8   67.9   61.6  
Moderate 92.9   92.5   53.4   69.0   70.9   72.1  
Low 89.7   89.9   35.0   64.0   64.2   89.3  
Mixed 94.3   87.9   55.6   64.3   64.4   73.0  
                         
Percent combined enrollment of
Black, Hispanic, Asian, Pacific
Islander, and American Indian/
Alaska Native students, and
students of Two or more races
                       
Less than 5 percent 86.3   100.0   22.4   72.6   79.9   95.4  
5 to less than 20 percent 86.6   88.4   26.2   61.0   64.3   96.2  
20 to less than 50 percent 94.7   85.6   42.0   60.9   60.9   85.4  
50 percent or more 92.4   91.2   64.7   68.9   68.3   63.4  
                         
Percent of students eligible for
free or reduced-price lunch
                       
0–25 percent 94.5   87.5   40.8   66.5   63.7   91.1  
26–50 percent 91.7   87.2   35.5   59.2   65.9   88.3  
51–75 percent 91.8   89.9   42.3   64.7   69.4   85.0  
More than 75 percent 86.0   94.5   66.8   72.2   64.6   54.4  
                         
Percent of students below 15th
percentile on standardized tests
                       
0–5 percent 95.2   91.2   44.8   66.2   62.3   81.9  
6–15 percent 90.5   86.3   38.8   65.2   66.7   85.5  
More than 15 percent 87.9   91.9   52.9   63.6   68.7   73.3  
                         
Percent of students likely
to attend college
                       
0–35 percent 79.0   93.0   56.6   65.1   63.7   69.3  
36–60 percent 91.5   88.9   40.9   65.8   65.8   79.1  
More than 60 percent 94.5   88.9   43.8   64.5   67.0   84.3  
                         
Percent of students who consider
academic achievement very important
                       
0–25 percent 76.9   88.8   35.0   65.5   69.2   71.4  
26–50 percent 83.5   90.4   46.7   59.8   73.8   74.8  
51–75 percent 91.3   89.5   38.9   66.9   62.5   84.5  
More than 75 percent 94.9   89.5   50.2   65.4   65.5   80.5  
                         
Percent male enrollment                        
0–44 percent 86.2   92.6   42.4   71.2   47.3   75.9  
45–55 percent 92.0   89.2   46.0   64.9   68.1   81.0  
More than 55 percent 86.2   90.6   42.4   60.5   64.3   77.9  
                         
Student-to-FTE ratio5                        
Less than 12 students 88.4   95.9   35.6   60.3   48.7   85.1  
12–16 students 91.0   89.8   39.5   66.2   69.7   88.6  
More than 16 students 91.4   88.3   50.1   65.1   67.4   75.1  
                         
Number of classroom changes6                        
0–3 changes 84.3   93.7   79.5   77.2   49.5   44.0  
4–6 changes 91.0   90.0   46.5   65.2   61.7   75.1  
More than 6 changes 91.4   88.9   41.7   63.7   71.1   87.6  
                         
Regular use of security staff7                        
Regular use 95.1   90.0   50.1   67.5   66.7   80.8  
No regular use 73.5   87.9   24.8   53.8   63.7   78.3  
                         
Number of serious discipline problems8                        
No problems 90.3   88.9   45.0   66.8   65.2   77.7  
1 problem 90.9   89.5   43.1   59.9   71.7   87.5  
2 problems 100.0   95.3   45.6   76.0   77.6   88.7  
3 or more problems 92.5   93.7   54.9   45.2   55.6   89.1  
                         
Transfers as a percentage of enrollment9                        
Less than 6 percent 93.5   89.0   43.1   66.5   65.5   81.4  
6 to less than 11 percent 88.7   85.7   50.5   60.6   69.9   85.3  
11 to less than 21 percent 92.4   91.1   42.1   64.9   66.1   85.0  
21 percent or more 87.7   92.2   47.7   67.0   63.4   67.9  
                         
Prevalence of schoolwide
disruptions10
                       
No disruptions 90.3   88.9   44.0   65.6   65.2   79.3  
Any disruptions 95.1   93.7   53.1   61.2   71.4   86.4  
                         
Percent of students absent
on a daily basis
                       
0–2 percent 92.4   94.0   45.2   76.6   59.8   81.4  
3–5 percent 93.3   86.0   44.7   65.9   72.6   79.1  
6–10 percent 91.7   91.4   44.0   62.8   65.1   87.3  
More than 10 percent 82.2   93.2   50.7   64.7   53.2   64.3  
                         
Prevalence of violent incidents 11                        
No violent incidents 81.9   84.5   38.8   61.1   42.3   62.7  
Any violent incidents 92.0   90.2   46.1   65.4   68.8   82.3  
1Examples of controlled access to school buildings provided to respondents were locked or monitored doors.
2Examples of controlled access to school grounds provided to respondents were locked or monitored gates.
3This item is new to the 2015–16 School Survey on Crime and Safety.
4Respondents 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."
5Student-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.
6Respondents were asked, "How many classroom changes do most students make in a typical day?" Responses exclude morning arrival and afternoon departure.
7 Regular use of security staff includes full- or part-time school resource officers, sworn law enforcement officers, or security guards or security personnel present at school at least once a week.
8Serious discipline problems include student racial/ethnic tensions, student bullying, student sexual harassment of other students, student verbal abuse of teachers, widespread disorder in classrooms, student acts of disrespect for teachers other than verbal abuse, 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.
9Transfers 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.
10Schoolwide 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.
11Violent incidents include rape or attempted rape, sexual assault other than rape (including threatened rape), physical attack or fight with or without a weapon, threat of physical attack with or without a weapon, and robbery (taking things with force) with or without a weapon.
NOTE: High schools are defined as schools in which the lowest grade is not lower than grade 9 and the highest grade is not higher than grade 12. Detail may not sum to totals because schools may have reported using more than one of these practices. 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, 2015–16 School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS), 2016.