A r c h i v e d I n f o r m a t i o n

Challenging the Status Quo: The Education Record 1993-2000 - May 2000

6 Creating Safe, Disciplined, and Drug-Free Schools

Safe, disciplined, and drug-free learning environments are fundamental to student efforts to learn to high standards. With the Administration?s leadership, school violence and illegal drug use are going down across the Nation:

Despite recent highly publicized school shootings, the overall rate of school crime against students 12 to 18 years old fell by one-third between 1993 and 1997. The most common school crime is theft; violent crime is comparatively less common.^[27]

The percentage of high school students who carried a weapon to school declined from 12 percent to 9 percent between 1993 and 1997.^[28]

Students are three times less likely to be victims of non-fatal serious violent crime at school than away from school.^[29] Preliminary data indicate that less than 1 percent of the more than 2,500 child murders or suicides nationwide in the first half of the 1997-98 academic year occurred at school.^[30]

Since 1998, illegal drug use among eighth-, tenth-, and twelfth-graders appears to be leveling off, halting an upward trend.^[31]

IMPROVING SCHOOL SAFETY AND DISCIPLINE
In Westerly, Rhode Island, the school district has implemented a comprehensive approach to addressing complaints about the education of students with disabilities. Combining revisions in district policies, intensive staff training, and academic and behavioral interventions, Westerly Public Schools has made significant strides in creating a safe and disciplined learning environment for its students. Schools report a suspension rate nearly six times lower than the State figure, as well as improved grades, achievement, and attendance of students with behavioral or emotional problems, and decreased disciplinary referrals. Strategies include using data to restructure policies and programs, providing prevention and intervention when needed, and offering targeted intervention for students with more serious needs.

Since 1993, through the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act, this Administration has focused more than $3 billion on increasing school safety and reducing illicit drug use. Annually, these funds have enabled up to 97 percent of the Nation?s school districts to provide prevention programming to roughly 40 million students. The Administration has pursued a collaborative strategy that emphasizes program accountability, recognizing the need not only to provide substantial resources but also to strengthen the quality of programs being implemented with Federal funding. Through reauthorization of the Act in 1994, the Administration expanded the program to include school safety issues, enhanced program accountability by requiring needs assessments and performance indicators, and initiated targeting of program resources to districts with the greatest need for additional support. The Principles of Effectiveness in 1998 further emphasized the need for data-driven decision-making and implementation of effective, research-based programs.

REDUCING JUVENILE CRIME AFTER SCHOOL

In Highland Park, Michigan, a 21st Century after-school program serves children in grades pre-K to 12, their parents and guardians, and other members of the community, where 93 percent of residents are African American and 81 percent of children are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. Children participate in expanded recreational, educational, and enrichment activities, and in the program's first year, the Highland Park Police reported a 40 percent drop in juvenile offenses in the areas where the Community Learning Centers are located.

In Marshalltown, Iowa, where a 21st Century after-school program serves two middle schools, the Marshall County Juvenile Court reported a 30 percent drop last year in court referrals for 11- to 14-year-olds. In addition, the grade point averages of after-school participants have gone up.

Finally, in Mineral County, Montana, after-school programs serving middle and high school students have helped bring about a 12 percent decrease in alcohol use, a 22 percent decrease in physical fights on school property, and a 100 percent high school graduation rate.

At the national level, program funds totaling $346 million since 1993 have been used to identify model prevention programs, to replicate effective strategies, to enhance data collection, and to disseminate information about research-based programs and approaches. The funds also have provided emergency assistance, including help from experts in the field and support for counseling and other services to schools experiencing crises (such as those in Jonesboro, Arkansas; Springfield, Oregon; and Littleton, Colorado), and have funded model programs to prevent drug use and violence on our college campuses, including a national technical assistance center and a joint project with the National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse designed to reduce binge drinking. Moreover, since 1999, a $150 million new initiative—Safe Schools/Healthy Students—has engaged the Departments of Education, Justice, and Health and Human Services in a collaborative effort enabling communities to apply for funds dedicated to comprehensive strategies for preventing youth violence and drug use.

Our schools have a role to play in helping young people develop a moral compass. Character education is a growing field that deserves our attention?. Religion also has a proper place in our public schools. Our children do not give up their religious freedom when they go in the schoolhouse door. Young people can voluntarily say grace, meet at the flagpole, or join a Bible Club. The rule of thumb is very simple. Public schools can teach about religion but they cannot preach about religion.

Secretary Richard W. Riley
State of American Education Address
February 2000

Many other important Administration initiatives also are contributing to success in reducing youth violence and drug use. The Class Size Reduction program and the Smaller Learning Communities initiative allow teachers and schools, by creating smaller classes and schools within schools, to improve behavior management as well as instruction. Civic and character education funds foster students? citizenship skills and character development. In addition to offering valuable academic support, after-school programs provide a safe place for students to spend the high-risk afternoon hours. These strategies complement the goals of the Safe and Drug-Free Schools program.

Finally, the Administration in 1995 won a major legal victory when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the prerogative of public schools to test high school athletes for drugs.^[32] While respecting the privacy interests of students, the Administration successfully persuaded the Court that public schools need flexibility to address the problem of illegal drug use.

²⁷ U.S. Departments of Education and Justice (1999), Annual Report on School Safety, Washington, D.C., p. 4.

²⁸ 1999 Annual Report on School Safety, p. 5.

²⁹ U.S. Departments of Education and Justice (1999), Indicators of School Crime and Safety, Washington, D.C., p. 2.

³⁰ 1999 Annual Report on School Safety, p. 2.

³¹ University of Michigan, Survey Research Institute, Institute for Social Research (1999), Monitoring the Future Study, Ann Arbor, MI, press release.

³² See Vernonia School District 47J v. Acton, 515 U.S. 646 (1995).
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