Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2014

A joint effort by the Bureau of Justice Statistics and National Center for Education Statistics, this annual report examines crime occurring in schools and colleges. This report presents data on crime at school from the perspectives of students, teachers, principals, and the general population from an array of sources--the National Crime Victimization Survey, the School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey, the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, the School Survey on Crime and Safety, the Schools and Staffing Survey, EDFacts, and the Campus Safety and Security Survey. The report covers topics such as victimization, bullying, school conditions, fights, weapons, the presence of security staff at school, availability and student use of drugs and alcohol, student perceptions of personal safety at school, and criminal incidents at postsecondary institutions

Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2015

Our nation's schools should be safe havens for teaching and learning, free of crime and violence. Any instance of crime or violence at school not only affects the individuals involved, but also may disrupt the educational process and affect bystanders, the school itself, and the surrounding community (Brookmeyer, Fanti, and Henrich 2006; Goldstein, Young, and Boyd 2008).Establishing reliable indicators of the current state of school crime and safety across the nation and regularly updating and monitoring these indicators are important in ensuring the safety of our nation's students. This is the aim of Indicators of School Crime and Safety.This report is the 18th in a series of annual publications produced jointly by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), Institute of Education Sciences (IES), in the U.S. Department of Education, and the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) in the U.S. Department of Justice. This 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 surveys of students, teachers, principals, and postsecondary institutions. Sources include results from the School-Associated Violent Deaths Study, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, the Department of Justice, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); the National Crime Victimization Survey and School Crime Supplement to that survey, sponsored by BJS and NCES, respectively; the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, sponsored by the CDC; the Schools and Staffing Survey, School Survey on Crime and Safety, Fast Response Survey System, ED Facts , and High School Longitudinal Study of 2009, all sponsored by NCES; the Supplementary Homicide Reports, sponsored by the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Campus Safety and Security Survey and Civil Rights Data Collection, both sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education; and the Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Justice. The most recent data collection for each indicator varied by survey, from 2009 to 2014. Each data source has an independent sample design, data collection method, and questionnaire design, or is the result of a universe data collection. Findings described in this report with comparative language (e.g., higher, lower, increase, and decrease) are statistically significant at the .05 level. Additional information about methodology and the datasets analyzed in this report may be found in appendix A.This report covers topics such as victimization, teacher injury, bullying and cyber-bullying, school conditions, fights, weapons, availability and student use of drugs and alcohol, student perceptions of personal safety at school, and criminal incidents at postsecondary institutions. Indicators of crime and safety are compared across different population subgroups and over time. Data on crimes that occur away from school are offered as a point of comparison where available

Motivational Processes and the Pursuit of Postsecondary Education

Enrollment in postsecondary education is at an all-time high, and a college education is increasingly seen as a necessity for the majority of students. Prior research has established that several variables account for students' postsecondary enrollment differences, including students' demographic characteristics and their academic achievement. However, despite the wealth of research that shows students' motivation-related beliefs and behaviors are important predictors of academic outcomes and choices, motivation-related theoretical frameworks have rarely been applied to the research examining postsecondary enrollment as an outcome. Therefore, data from the ELS:2002 dataset was used to examine how students' ability beliefs, value for school, postsecondary expectations, and goal-directed behaviors were related longitudinally, as well as how these variables related to students' postsecondary enrollment. Multinomial logistic regression was used to examine whether students' postsecondary expectations changed over time differently for students from different demographic groups. Next, structural equation modeling was used to examine how the full set of motivation-related beliefs and behaviors were related to one another as well as how they predicted postsecondary enrollment. Demographic differences by gender, ethnicity, and SES in the relations between variables were also examined. The results indicate that patterns of change in postsecondary expectations differentially predicted students' postsecondary enrollment. Specifically, students who reduced their expectations were less likely to be continuously enrolled in college. Further, students' ability beliefs and value for school predicted their postsecondary expectations and goal-directed behaviors which in turn predicted students' postsecondary enrollment. Mean-level differences as well as differences in the relations between variables emerged for students' from different demographic groups. Implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed

Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2016

Our nation's schools should be safe havens for teaching and learning, free of crime and violence. Any instance of crime or violence at school not only affects the individuals involved, but also may disrupt the educational process and affect bystanders, the school itself, and the surrounding community (Brookmeyer, Fanti, and Henrich 2006; Goldstein, Young, and Boyd 2008).Establishing reliable indicators of the current state of school crime and safety across the nation and regularly updating and monitoring these indicators are important in ensuring the safety of our nation's students. This is the aim of Indicators of School Crime and Safety.This report is the 19th in a series of annual publications produced jointly by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), Institute of Education Sciences (IES), in the U.S. Department of Education, and the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) in the U.S. Department of Justice. This 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 surveys of students, teachers, principals, and postsecondary institutions. Sources include results from the School-Associated Violent Death Surveillance System, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, the Department of Justice, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); the National Crime Victimization Survey and School Crime Supplement to that survey, sponsored by BJS and NCES, respectively; the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, sponsored by the CDC; the Schools and Staffing Survey, School Survey on Crime and Safety, Fast Response Survey System, ED Facts , and Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010–11, all sponsored by NCES; the Supplementary Homicide Reports, sponsored by the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Campus Safety and Security Survey and Civil Rights Data Collection, both sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education; and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, sponsored by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement. The most recent data collection for each indicator varied by survey, from 2009 to 2015. Each data source has an independent sample design, data collection method, and questionnaire design, or is the result of a universe data collection. Findings described in this report with comparative language (e.g., higher, lower, increase, and decrease) are statistically significant at the .05 level. Additional information about methodology and the datasets analyzed in this report may be found in appendix A.This report covers topics such as victimization, teacher injury, bullying and cyber-bullying, school conditions, fights, weapons, availability and student use of drugs and alcohol, student perceptions of personal safety at school, and criminal incidents at postsecondary institutions. Indicators of crime and safety are compared across different population subgroups and over time. Data on crimes that occur away from school are offered as a point of comparison where available

Parental ethnic identity and child test scores

We examine the relationship between parental ethnic identity and the test scores of ethnic minority children. We use standard survey measures of the strength of parental identity alongside validated cognitive test scores in a rich British cohort study. We show that children whose mothers report either an adoption or an active rejection of the majority identity tend to score lower in cognitive tests at age 7, compared to those children whose mothers report neutral feelings about the majority identity. We find no consistent differences in test scores according to mothers’ minority identity. Our findings provide no support for education or citizenship policies which promote the adoption of the majority identity or discourage the maintenance of separate identities in ethnic minority communities

Heterogeneous Relationships between Labor Income and Health by Race/Ethnicity

Objective. To examine the race-stratified relationships between labor income and health among working-age adults in the United States. Data Sources. Data from eight waves of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics from 1999 through 2013 were used for this study. Study Design. The study utilized a retrospective observational longitudinal design with repeated measures of labor income and health measures. System-generalized method of moment and heteroscedasticity-based instrument regressions were used to examine the relationships between labor income and physical and mental health measures, respectively. Dynamic panel models were used to examine the effect of loss in income on health measures. Data Collection/Extraction Methods. We performed secondary data analysis. Principal Findings. Adults in higher labor income quartiles had better self-rated health than those in the lowest quartile regardless of racial group. The relationship between labor income and psychological distress varied by race groups. Reductions in labor income were associated with increases in psychological distress among whites only. Conclusion. These findings suggest heterogeneous relationships between labor income and overall health across racial groups. Our results highlight the need to provide safety nets for adults who experience a decline in income to prevent deterioration in health