Violence and Discipline Problems in U.S. Public Schools: 1996-97

Sheila Heaviside

Jan 1998 · U.S. Government Printing Office

About this ebook

Under a Congressional mandate, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is required to collect data on the frequency, seriousness, and incidence of violence in elementary and secondary schools. The NCES responded to this requirement by commissioning a survey, the Principal/School Disciplinarian Survey on School Violence, the results of which are detailed in this report. The school violence survey was conducted with a nationally representative sample of 1,234 regular public elementary, middle, and secondary schools in the 50 states and the District of Columbia in the spring and summer of 1997. The survey requested information on: (1) the incidence of crime and violence in the public schools; (2) principals' (or school disciplinarians') perceptions about discipline issues; (3) types of disciplinary actions schools took; and (4) security and violence prevention measures in the schools. More than half of U.S. public schools reported experiencing at least one crime incident in the school year 1996-97, and 1 in 10 schools reported at least one serious violent crime during the school year. Crime and violence were more of a problem in middle and high schools than in elementary schools. Middle and high schools were more likely to report that they had experienced one or more incidents of any crime and one or more incidents of serious violent crime than elementary schools. Most public schools reported having zero tolerance policies towards serious student offenses, and most schools reported that they used low levels of security measures to prevent violence. Most schools reported having formal school violence prevention programs. An appendix contains the survey questionnaire. (Contains 12 figures, 32 tables.) (SLD)