Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

NCES Releases Report on Crime, Safety in Schools

  • By Matt Jones
  • 08/01/24

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and the Bureau of Justice Statistics at the U.S. Department of Justice recently released its annual Report on Indicators of School Crime and Safety, a news release reports. The report includes data regarding active shooter situations and deaths, bullying, student victimization, existing mental health services, students carrying weapons, and other campus safety and security measures.

According to the report, between 2000 and 2022, there were 50 documented active shooter incidents in elementary and secondary schools, and 18 documented active shooter incidents at postsecondary institutions. About 3 percent of students in grades 9–12 reported carrying a weapon on school property (including a knife, gun, or club) on at least one day during the previous 30, down from 5 percent in 2011. Public schools reporting the presence of an armed law enforcement officer on campus dropped from 51 percent during the 2019–20 academic year to 45 percent in 2021–22, according to the news release.

About 19 percent of students ages 12–18 reported being bullied during school during 2021–22, down from 28 percent in 2010–11. Likewise, the number of crimes reported on postsecondary campuses per 10,000 full-time students fell by 16 percent between 2011 and 2021. Finally, the number of hate crimes reported on campus was 12 percent lower in 2021 than it was in 2011.

The full report is available on the NCES website.

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Spaces4Learning Launches 2026 Facilities and Construction Brief Survey

    Spaces4Learning recently launched the 2026 Facilities and Construction Brief Survey, which collects data on the previous year’s K–12 and higher education construction projects nationwide.

  • Q&A: How to Prevent Kitchen Grease Fires in Commercial Kitchens

    School cafeterias and university dining halls serve thousands of meals daily, relying on high-heat equipment like fryers, grills, and ovens. While these operations keep students fed, they also generate significant grease-laden vapors. Without proper controls, this grease becomes a silent fire threat. As a certified exhaust cleaning specialist and business coach who has helped hundreds of institutional facilities achieve NFPA 96 compliance, I emphasize that proactive grease management isn’t optional; it’s a core fire/life safety practice.

  • Dallas ISD Voters Approve $6.2B Bond Package

    Dallas ISD voters have approved a record-setting $6.2-billion bond package that district leaders say will modernize aging campuses, eliminate portable classrooms and reshape learning environments across one of the nation’s largest school systems.

  • Opportunity by Design Framework

    Opportunity by Design

    Educational improvement efforts often focus on curriculum, instruction, assessment, professional development, and intervention systems while treating the physical school building as background. But school design is not a passive backdrop to learning — it is a structural lever for equity.