SSOCS Brochure

Do
individual
school data

remain
confidential
Your answers may be used only for statistical purposes
and may not be disclosed or used in identifiable
form for any other purpose except as required by
law (20 U.S. Code, Section 9573). Your answers
will be combined with those from others to produce
summary statistics and reports. No individual data
such as names or addresses will be reported. Any
attempt on the part of a data user to identify a school
or a specific respondent is prohibited by law and
punishable with a fine of up to $250,000 and/or a
prison term up to 5 years.

Where can
I find more

information

about
the ssocs

The
school survey
on

National Center for Education Statistics
Institute of Education Sciences
1990 K Street NW
Washington, DC 20006-5651

crime
&safety
(

s

s

o

c

s

nces.ed.gov
202-502-7300

www.ed.gov

ies.ed.gov

To see reports, publications, and other information
on the SSOCS, please visit the SSOCS website at
http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/SSOCS.

NCES 2010-301
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

)

Why is the

ssocs
important
To address school crime, parents, school staff, and
policymakers must understand the extent and nature
of the problem. SSOCS is designed to provide
measures of crime and safety in the nation’s public
schools. Some findings from the 2007–08 school
year:
•

What is the
school survey
on

crime
&safety
The School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS)
is a national survey of elementary and secondary
public school principals that collects information
on school safety, including the frequency of school
crime and violence, disciplinary actions, and school
practices related to the prevention and reduction of
crime. SSOCS is one of the nation’s primary sources
of school-level data on crime and safety. Sponsored
by the U.S. Department of Education, Institute of
Education Sciences, National Center for Education
Statistics (NCES), it has been administered four
times since 1999 to nationally representative samples
of schools and will be conducted again in the spring
of the 2009-10 school year. Your school has been
selected to participate in this new wave of data
collection.

The rate of violent incidents per 1,000 students
was higher in middle schools (41 incidents) than
in primary schools (26 incidents) or high schools
(22 incidents).

•

For students involved in the use or possession of
a weapon other than a firearm or explosive device
at school, the most frequently used disciplinary
action was an out-of-school suspension lasting 5
or more days (41 percent).

•

Compared to schools in towns (31 percent) or
rural areas (34 percent), larger percentages of city
(49 percent) and suburban (43 percent) schools
reported having a written plan for procedures to
be followed if the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security issues a warning for a severe risk of
terrorist attack.

•

A higher percentage of middle schools reported
drilling students using a written plan describing
the procedures to be performed during a shooting
(63 percent) than high schools (57 percent) or
primary schools (49 percent).

What topics are

covered in the

questionnaire
•

School policies and programs concerning crime
and safety;

•

Student and teacher involvement in efforts to
prevent or reduce school violence;

•

Frequency and types of disciplinary actions such
as expulsions, transfers, and suspensions for
selected offenses; and

•

Frequency and types of crimes at school,
including rape, sexual battery, physical attack,
robbery, theft, and vandalism.

Why
was my

school
selected
There are more than 80,000 public schools in the
United States and only a small proportion can be
surveyed at one time. Your school was selected to
represent schools similar to yours from across the
nation. Your participation is important so the results
represent the diversity of America’s public schools.