Covering the business of education and training

The National Center for Education Statistics reports the following:

 1. The percentage of public schools experiencing one or more violent incidents increased between the 1999–2000 and 2003–04 school years, from 71 to 81 percent  

 2. Both primary schools and high schools had lower rates of violent crimes per 1,000 students than middle schools.

 3. In 2003–04, 2 percent of public schools reported daily or weekly occurrences of racial tensions among students and 27 percent reported daily or weekly student bullying

 4. 11 percent of principals reported student verbal abuse of teachers, 3 percent reported widespread disorder in classrooms, and 19 percent reported student acts of disrespect for teachers.

 5. About 17 percent of public schools reported undesirable gang activities and 3 percent reported undesirable cult or extremist activities.

 6. In general, principals in large schools were more likely to report discipline problems than principals in small schools.

 7. In 2005, 24 percent of students ages 12–18 reported that there were gangs at their schools.

 8. Students in urban schools (36 percent) were more likely to report the presence of gangs at their school than suburban students (21 percent) and rural students (16 percent).

 9. The percentage of students reporting the presence of gangs increased from 21 to 24 percent between 2003 and 2005.

10. The percentage of students at urban schools reporting the presence of gangs at school increased from 31 to 36 percent during this period.

11. In 2005, one-quarter of all students in grades 9–12 reported that someone had offered, sold, or given them an illegal drug on school property in the past 12 months.

12. Eleven percent of students ages 12–18 reported that someone at school had used hate-related words against them, and more than one-third (38 percent) had seen hate-related graffiti at school in 2005.

13. In 2005, 28 percent of students ages 12–18 reported having been bullied at school during the last 6 months.

14. Of those students who reported bullying incidents that involved being pushed, shoved, tripped, or spit on (9 percent), 24 percent reported that they had sustained an injury during the previous 6 months.

Violent incidents are up. Gangs in large schools are more prevalent. One in four kid has been offered drugs at school.

It seems we still have a long way to go before our kids feel safe at school.

What do you think?