SSOCS 2012 Broachure

Do individual school data

remain
confidential?

The School
Survey on

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

Crime&
Safety
National Center for Education Statistics
Institute of Education Sciences
1990 K Street NW
Washington, DC 20006-5651
nces.ed.gov
202-502-7300

www.ed.gov

ies.ed.gov

NCES 2011-337
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

What is the School Survey on

Why is the

The School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS)
is a national survey of elementary and secondary
public schools. SSOCS 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 five times since 1999 to
nationally representative samples of schools and
will be conducted again in the spring of the 2011–
12 school year. Your school has been selected to
participate in this new wave of data collection.

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 2009–10 school year:

Crime&
Safety?

SSOCS
important?

During the 2009–10 school year, the rate of
violent incidents per 1,000 students was higher
in middle schools (40 incidents) than in primary
schools or high schools (21 incidents each).

l

Some 25 percent of schools reported at least one
incident of the distribution, possession, or use of
illegal drugs, a higher percentage than that of
the distribution, possession, or use of alcohol
(14 percent of schools) or prescription drugs
(12 percent of schools).

l

Why was my

school
selected?
There are approximately 100,000 public schools in
the United States and only a small portion can be
surveyed at one time. Your school was selected to
represent schools similar to yours from across the
nation, and we are asking that the questionnaire
be completed by the principal or the person most
knowledgeable about school crime and policies to
provide a safe environment at your school. Your
participation is important so the results represent
the diversity of America’s public schools.

What topics are

covered in the
questionnaire?
l

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).

l

l

l

A higher percentage of schools with 1,000 or more
students involved students in resolving student
conduct problems as a component of violence
prevention programs (60 percent); compared to
schools with lower enrollments (39 percent to
49 percent).

l

SSOCS is one of the nation’s primary sources
of school-level data on crime and safety.

l

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 and suspensions for ­selected
­offenses; and
Frequency and types of crimes at school, ­including
physical attack, robbery, theft, and vandalism.