School Survey on Crime and Safety

School Survey on Crime and Safety
Name	School Survey on Crime and Safety
Country	United States
Administered by	National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)
First year	1999
Frequency	biennial
Type	school-based survey

School Survey on Crime and Safety

The School Survey on Crime and Safety is a federally administered biennial data collection that measures reported incidents, policies, and perceptions related to safety in elementary and secondary schools in the United States. Designed and overseen by the National Center for Education Statistics in partnership with agencies such as the Bureau of Justice Statistics and stakeholders including the U.S. Department of Education and the Office for Civil Rights, the survey informs research tied to institutions like the Brookings Institution, the RAND Corporation, and the Urban Institute. Major users include policymakers from the U.S. Congress, state departments such as the California Department of Education and the Texas Education Agency, and advocacy organizations like the National PTA and the American Civil Liberties Union.

Overview

The survey collects school-level information on incidents such as bullying, assault, theft, and weapon possession, alongside data on security measures like metal detectors, school resource officers, and emergency planning used by districts including the New York City Department of Education and the Chicago Public Schools. Respondents represent principals and school staff from diverse settings including rural districts in Iowa, suburban systems in New Jersey, and urban complexes in Los Angeles Unified School District. Results have been cited in reports by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institute of Justice, and commissions such as the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States.

Methodology

The survey employs probability sampling drawn from the NCES Common Core of Data frame, stratified by school level (elementary, middle, high), enrollment size, and locale codes developed in consultation with the U.S. Census Bureau. Questionnaires are administered to principals and school security coordinators using mail-back and web-based modes similar to instruments used by the Current Population Survey and the General Social Survey. Coding and weighting protocols follow standards aligned with the Office of Management and Budget statistical directives and guidance from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Measures include incident counts, policy adoption indicators, and perceptual items adapted from tools used by the Department of Justice and researchers at Harvard University, Columbia University, and the University of Michigan.

Key Findings

Findings have documented trends such as variation in reported violent crime across school levels and locales, differential prevalence of bullying in districts profiled by the Department of Education and demographic analyses used by the Pew Research Center, and the distribution of security technology across districts studied by the Education Week and the Johns Hopkins University Center for Safe and Healthy Schools. Reports have shown correlations between presence of school resource officers and rates of referral to law enforcement that were explored by scholars at the University of Pennsylvania and policy analysts at the Brookings Institution. Data have illuminated disparities tied to race and disability that intersect with enforcement practices reviewed by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and litigated in venues like the Supreme Court of the United States.

Impact and Uses

Policymakers have used survey outputs to shape legislation introduced in the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives, to inform guidance from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and training curricula developed by institutions such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the American Red Cross. State education agencies and local boards, including the Florida Department of Education and the Boston School Committee, use estimates to allocate resources for counselors, threat assessment teams, and infrastructural improvements promoted by organizations like the National School Boards Association and the National Association of School Resource Officers. Academic researchers at Stanford University, Yale University, and Princeton University rely on the dataset for longitudinal analyses published in journals connected to the American Educational Research Association.

Criticisms and Limitations

Critics from civil liberties groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union and scholars affiliated with the Brennan Center for Justice have highlighted limitations including underreporting, definitional ambiguity of incidents, and reliance on administrator self-report analogous to concerns raised about the National Crime Victimization Survey. Methodological critiques by teams at the University of Chicago and the London School of Economics note potential nonresponse bias, measurement error, and challenges in cross-wave comparability following instrument revisions endorsed by the Institute of Education Sciences. Legal scholars citing cases from the United States Court of Appeals have questioned the use of survey-derived counts in disciplinary adjudication and federal compliance reviews.

Data Collection and Administration

Administration cycles are coordinated by NCES staff in collaboration with contractors and federal partners, deploying sample selection, instrument testing, cognitive interviewing, and data processing steps similar to protocols used by the National Assessment of Educational Progress and the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009. Data releases include public-use files and restricted-use files accessible under agreements monitored by the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research and secured in accordance with standards from the National Institutes of Health for human subjects protections overseen by Institutional Review Boards such as those at Georgetown University and Duke University.

Trends and Policy Responses

Longitudinal snapshots have shown declines and fluctuations in certain incident types that informed responses like the adoption of comprehensive school safety plans advocated by the U.S. Secret Service and model threat assessment frameworks promoted by the National Threat Assessment Center. Policymakers and practitioners in districts like Columbus City Schools and Seattle Public Schools have implemented interventions ranging from restorative practices championed by organizations such as the International Institute for Restorative Practices to technology investments influenced by vendor briefings from companies contracting with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Ongoing debates in state legislatures, commissions, and academic conferences at venues like the American Psychological Association and the Society for Research in Child Development continue to draw on survey evidence.

Category:Surveys