Crime, Violence, Discipline, and Safety in U.S. Public Schools: Findings from the School Survey on Crime and Safety: 2017-18. First Look. NCES 2019-061
Author: Diliberti, Melissa
Date: 2019-07-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: School Surveys,Crime,School Safety,Violence,Discipline,Public Schools,National Surveys,Elementary Secondary Education,Incidence,Weapons,School Security,Security Personnel,Mental Health Programs,Crime Prevention,Drills (Practice),Emergency Programs,Bullying,Institutional Characteristics,Drinking,Drug Use

Using data from the School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS), this report presents findings both on crime and violence in U.S. public schools and on the practices and programs schools have implemented to promote school safety. SSOCS collects information from public school principals about the prevalence of violent and serious violent crimes occurring in their schools. Portions of this survey also focus on school security measures, school security staff, the availability of mental health services, parent and community involvement at school, and staff training. SSOCS data can be used to examine the relationship between violent incidents in schools and the programs, practices, and policies schools have in place to prevent and reduce crime. The findings presented in this report are based on a nationally representative, stratified, random sample of 4,803 U.S. public schools. Data collection for SSOCS:2018 began on February 20, 2018, and continued through July 18, 2018. While SSOCS has historically been conducted by mail with telephone and e-mail follow-up, the 2018 survey administration experimented with an online questionnaire. The 2018 survey administration also experimented with offering a $10 cash incentive to a subset of sampled schools. A total of 2,762 primary, middle, high, and combined schools provided complete questionnaires, yielding a weighted response rate of 62 percent. Per National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Statistical Standards, a unit nonresponse bias analysis was performed since the weighted response rate was less than 85 percent. The results of this analysis suggest that the characteristics of nonresponding schools differed significantly from those of responding schools. However, the unit nonresponse bias analysis also provided evidence that the nonresponse weighting adjustments used for SSOCS:2018 removed most of the observed nonresponse bias in characteristics known for both respondents and nonrespondents. The purpose of this report is to introduce new NCES data through the presentation of tables containing descriptive information. The tables in this report contain totals and percentages generated from bivariate cross-tabulation procedures. This report also includes selected findings and figures. These items demonstrate the range of information available from SSOCS:2018 data, rather than provide a comprehensive presentation of all observed differences. Due to the large sample size, many differences (no matter how substantively minor) are statistically significant; thus, only differences of 5 percentage points or more between groups are mentioned in the findings. [For &quot;Crime, Violence, Discipline, and Safety in U.S. Public Schools: Findings from the School Survey on Crime and Safety: 2015-16. First Look. NCES 2017-122,&quot; see ED574956.]