School Survey on Crime and Safety, 2020

The 2020 School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS:2020) is a data collection that is part of the School Survey on Crime and Safety program; program data are available since 2000 at https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/ssocs/data_products.asp. SSOCS:2020 (https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/ssocs/) is a cross-sectional survey of the nation's public schools designed to provide estimates of school crime, discipline, disorder, programs and policies. Regular public schools were sampled. The collection was conducted primarily using an online survey with a mail questionnaire supplement, with e-mail follow-ups. The collection included an experiment that tested the effectiveness of providing a web navigation menu on the web instrument. The collection also included an incentive experiment that offered about 2340 schools a $10 cash incentive in the initial mailout, and then to increase response rates, a reminder email was sent in April promising a $10 cash incentive upon survey completion to all nonresponding schools, regardless of their originally assigned incentive group. Key statistics produced from SSOCS:2020 include the frequency and types of disciplinary actions taken for select offenses; perceptions of other disciplinary problems, such as bullying, verbal abuse and disorder in the classroom; the presence and role of school security staff; parent and community involvement; staff training; mental health services available to students; and school policies and programs concerning crime and safety.