Violent Incidents Highest in Middle Schools
During the 2009-10 school year, middle school students were more likely to experience a violent incident than other students, according to a report by The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).
The First Look report, Crime, Violence, Discipline, and Safety in U.S. Public Schools: Findings From the School Survey on Crime and Safety: 2009–10 found that there were 40 incidents of violence per 1,000 middle school students, compared to 21 incidents per 1,000 students in both elementary school and high school.
The report also found that schools with 1,000 students or more tended to involve students in resolving student conduct problems as a component of violence prevention programs (60 percent) than did schools with lower enrollments (39 to 49 percent). However, smaller schools tend to have a higher level of parental involvement. Only 23 percent of schools with 1,000 or more students had at least 75 percent of the parents or guardians who attended regularly scheduled parent-teacher conferences, while 53 percent of lower enrollment schools reached the 75 percent parental involvement number.
Other key statistics from the report include:
- Some 10 percent of city schools reported at least one gang-related crime, a higher percentage than that reported by suburban (5 percent), town (4 percent), or rural schools (2 percent).
- A higher percentage of middle schools reported that student bullying occurred at school daily or at least once a week (39 percent) than did high schools or primary schools (20 percent each).
- Some 46 percent of schools reported at least one student threat of physical attack without a weapon, compared to 8 percent of schools reported such a threat with a weapon.
Read the full report at: http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2011/2011320.pdf
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