States use statute and regulations to specify which behaviors "must" result in a student being suspended or expelled, with varying degrees of discretion allowed at local levels. This data point captures the offenses for which students must be suspended or expelled. Forty-six states and the District of Columbia must suspend students for…

This document is the first of a semi-annual "stocktaking" publication to analyze various political trends impacting education and young people. Bellwether hopes to help the field separate signal from noise and provide context around various issues and trends affecting the sector. The impact of COVID-19 school closures on schools and…

Sometimes school and district personnel must involve law enforcement in disciplinary actions, which may include reporting specific offenses or directing school resource officers to address certain infractions. This data point examines when state statute or regulation requires schools to involve law enforcement agencies and personnel and for which…

The federal Gun-Free Schools Act (GFSA) enacted in1994 requires U.S. public school systems to report any incident of a student bringing a firearm to school or being in possession of a firearm on school property, the law applies to all states and jurisdictions funded under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965. Under federal…

This is the 25th edition of Indicators of School Crime and Safety. This report provides summary statistics to inform the nation about current aspects of crime and safety in schools. This report does so by highlighting selected findings from 23 indicators on various school crime and safety topics. By synthesizing findings in this way, the report…

This is the 24th in a series of annual publications. Beginning with the 2020 edition, this report has been redesigned with the intention of increasing its usability for a wider audience. This report does so by highlighting selected findings from 23 indicators on various school crime and safety topics. It first examines different types of student…

This report examines findings from the 2020 PACE/USC Rossier poll of California voters. The poll represents the views of 2,000 registered California voters across a range of topics from early childhood education to higher education. Based on these results, the authors have identified five key findings: (1) There is growing pessimism about the…

The federal Gun-Free Schools Act (GFSA) was introduced into law as part of the Improving America's Schools Act of 1994. The federal law requires states funded under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965 to have a state law in effect that requires local education agencies (LEAs) to expel students for firearm offenses for a…

This is the appendixes for the report, "Are State Policy Reforms in Oregon Associated with Fewer School Suspensions and Expulsions?" This study examined the association between state-level policy reforms and suspension and expulsion rates for grades K-12 in Oregon public schools. The findings suggest that the policy shift has led to some…

The federal Gun-Free Schools Act (GFSA) enacted in1994 requires U.S. public school systems to report any incident of a student bringing a firearm to school or being in possession of a firearm on school property, the law applies to all states and jurisdictions funded under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965. Under federal…

As the nation has become increasingly politically divided in the wake of the 2016 Presidential elections, educators have turned their attention to civics education that might have the ability to encourage students to engage productively in public life. In addition, the February 2018 shootings at Parkland High School sparked a nationwide movement…

Using data from the School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS), this report presents findings both on crime and violence in U.S. public schools and on the practices and programs schools have implemented to promote school safety. SSOCS collects information from public school principals about the prevalence of violent and serious violent crimes…

This poll was conducted between April 26-May 6, 2023 among a sample of 961 Teachers. The interviews were conducted online. Results based on the full survey have a measure of precision of plus or minus 3.46 percentage points. Among the key findings are: (1) Private school and charter school teachers say they are thriving to a much higher degree…

This is the 23rd edition of Indicators of School Crime and Safety, a joint effort of the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) and the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). This report provides summary statistics to inform the nation about current aspects of crime and safety in schools. This report covers a variety of topics on school…

A joint effort by the National Center for Education Statistics and the Bureau of Justice Statistics, this annual report presents the most recent data available on school crime and student safety. The indicators in this report are based on information drawn from a variety of data sources, including national and international surveys of students,…