Survey on Violent Student Behavior & Service Needs

Data and Written Analysis by Russ Allen, Ph.D., WEAC
(A Joint Study by AWSA, WASDA, WCASS and WEAC)

Background

In November 2001, all directors of pupil services in Wisconsin's public schools were sent a very short questionnaire asking them about their district's experiences with a narrow range of violent student behaviors during the 2000-2001 school year. The primary purpose of the study was to estimate the number of students statewide who engage in some of the most violent acts.

Questionnaires were returned by 237 persons, representing 56% of the state's 426 school districts. Ten percent of those who participated in this study said that their district was urban, compared with 26% suburban and 64% small town/rural. To encourage respondents to be forthright with their answers, all were promised anonymity. As a result, no other information about the participants or the characteristics of the districts was collected.

Because this study sought to identify only those students who engage in the most violent of behaviors, the questionnaire described these behaviors as follows:

• physical attacks against other persons, with or without weapons, either at home, in school, or in the community;
  
• attacks against or violent destruction of property, including burning, either at home, in school or in the community;
  
• self-injurious behavior at home, in school, or in the community;
  
• forcible sexual attacks; or
  
• behavior sufficiently intense or severe so that substantial harm to person(s) or property could result without intervention.

Responses to Questions

1. Do you have one or more students with " identified disabilities" in your district who have exhibited one or more of the above behaviors, and who have committed an act of violence against a staff member, another student, or her/himself.

The majority of directors of pupil services said that during the 2000-2001 school year there was at least one serious act of violence by a student with "identified disabilities" against staff, another student, or the student her/himself. As shown in Table 1 above, one's fellow students were more likely to be the target of violent behavior (78%) than were staff members (58%) or the students themselves (57%).

2. If yes [to question 1], how many students engaged in acts of violent behavior in your district against persons in grades K-5, 6-8, and 9-12?

Respondents report that there were a total of 385 "identified" students in K-5 who committed acts of violence against staff, against other students, or against themselves. The figures for grades 6-8 and 9-12 were 455 and 540, respectively. These three figures total 1,380.

3. Do you have any "non-identified" students who have exhibited one or more of the above behaviors, and who have committed an act of violence against a staff member, another student, or her/himself.

Directors of pupil services report fewer "non-identified" students committing acts of violence during the 2000-2001 school year. As was true for the "identified" students, the students' peers were most likely to be the targets of violent behavior. In this case, nearly two-thirds (61%) report at least one violent act against another student.

4. If yes [to question 3], how many students engaged in acts of violent behavior in your district against persons in grades K-5, 6-8, and 9-12?

Respondents report 303 "non-identified" students in K-5 who acted violently during the 2000-2001 school year. In grades 6-8 and 9-12 the totals were 311 and 342, respectively.

5. Are the community and district services available adequate for the needs of these students?

The majority of pupil services directors (58%) said the community and district services were not adequate to meet the needs of students who engaged in acts of violence. It is interesting to note that when pupil services directors were asked if principals thought that services were adequate, 73% said "Yes." These figures suggest a significant difference of opinion between principals and directors of pupil services regarding the availability of district and community services.

Statewide Estimates of the Number of Students Committing Acts of Violence

The final step was to come up with statewide estimates for the numbers of "identified" and "non-identified" students who engaged in the most serious forms of violent behavior during the 2000-2001 school year. In order to develop estimates, we begin with the fact that the 237 persons who returned questionnaires represent 56% of all school districts in Wisconsin. It is assumed that these 237 districts are representative of all districts in the state.

To calculate statewide estimates, the reciprocal of .56, or 1.79, was used as a multiplier against the number of students reported to have committed at least one violent act. For example, respondents say that 1,380 "identified" students and 956 "non-identified" students acted violently during the 2000-2001 school year.

By multiplying these figures by 1.79, it is estimated that nearly 4,200 students in Wisconsin engaged in at least one significant act of violence in 2000-2001 (1,380 + 956) x 1.79 = 4,181). On average, each district had about ten students who acted violently that year. These 4,200 students represent less than one half of one percent of all students. While this is a small percentage, the impact on school personnel, students, and resources is disproportionately high.

Table 6 shows the figures reported by pupil services directors, along with statewide estimates.

Written Comments

At the end of the paper, respondents were given the opportunity to offer some final comments. Those comments follow.

• Significant lack of long-term meaningful mental health services, such as: residential placements and clinical treatments. I know of no mental health agencies that address cultural-racial factors inherent in mental health treatment.
  
  
• Hard to estimate given the size of our district and no reliable database to track these behaviors. Mental health services [are] inadequate.
  
  
• More services may be needed at secondary level, particularly support from the Dept of Social Services for retention placements.
  
  
• We can generally access reasonable services; however, community resources have limited barriers.
  
  
• There is a major gap in services for children with challenging behavior; both regular and special education.
  
  
• During the 2000-2001 school year, 74 Manifestation Determinations were held. In general, these typically involved students in grade 6-12 and often involved acts of aggression. For non-identified students, 16 students were expelled. Again, this most often involved students in grades 6-12 and were related to acts of aggression. The behavioral descriptors offered above describe behaviors at the more "severe" end of the continuum. Most often, our students have not exhibited behaviors to the extent described above, although there have been infrequent occurrences of violent behavior.
  
  
• Therapists are costly and insurance varies.
  
  
• Unfortunately, these types of students do not want to cooperate with the service providers.
  
  
• We have had a few quiet years. Clearly, in the past more students have been involved fitting the behavior descriptions above.
  
  
• The district is providing alternative education programs for four of these students. The cost for the special education programs and transportation is huge and impacts district budgets dramatically. In addition, the need for county services and mental health services is tremendous. In one case, the family has exhausted their lifetime medical insurance mental health benefits for a twelve year old.
  
  
• There would be so many more if we knew about all the substance abuses and self-mutilations.
  
  
• We need more county-wide or regional services or education on services already in place that we are unaware of. Collaboration with city police is unavailable - other resources available would be useful.
  
  
• The number of students having behavioral disorders appears to have increased.
  
  
• District has options, not enough in community.
  
  
• The school district has implemented an alternative school for students who have demonstrated behavior that is dangerous to health and staff or disruptive of property. The community lacks appropriate "wrap around services." The district experiences large numbers of high needs foster care placement. This stresses district capacity to serve students.
  
  
• I believe schools need to embrace the fact that social skills are essential to safe schools and society. We must teach and reinforce these skills, preK-12. It does make the difference!
  
  
• None of these incidents involve weapons or fire.
  
  
• Student identified is closely supervised. There was police intervention. However, there should be more pro-active for "at risk" students. The strong partnership between our schools and the local police department enhanced our effectiveness in dealing with these students. We have found services in the nearby urban community. However, parents are insisting that their children who are violent be educated in the public school setting.
  
  
• Principals do not feel that public school settings alone are adequate. However, by paying tuition for students to attend other settings within the county, services are adequate, and student's needs are able to be met.
  
  
• Some families chose not to use the services offered to them. The problem is "what is adequate"? We have students receiving tremendous amounts of services from the school district and the community and it is not making a difference. Unfortunately some parents have the attitude "take my kid and fix him/her." They want the services but are not willing to put forth much effort. They want everyone else to do it. We also have several students receiving some excellent services through their parents' insurance. Without the insurance they would not get these services.
  
  
• To our knowledge we have none currently.
  
  
• Violent and disruptive behavior seems to be increasing, especially in younger students. · As you can see by the response to your survey questions, our district has few severely violent students. Although our students are not at that point, we do have kids who are a step away from being violent. My concern is that there are not enough resources to help these children before they harm others or themselves. We have children who need some extensive counseling or intervention services, and they do not get them. We have some children who have some real psychological problems and there is no place for them to go to get the kind of intensive therapy they need. If these problems were caught early, perhaps children wouldn't get to the violent stage. Help is either financially out of reach for some parents, or it doesn't exist. Social services, although enlisted at times, is a slow process that deals with limited situations. There needs to be more counseling/therapy opportunities for families to get help. These need to be readily available and known to schools so we can point families in the right direction. Ideally it would be nice to have a therapist in the school one day a week to see kids on site. It is a sad reality that some of the children who need help do not have families who will seek it for them.
  
  
• Not applicable at this time.
  
  
• Need to deal with children, who have been identified with mental illness. Schools are not equipped to handle the counseling needs.
  
  
• More referral resources/out-of-district support is necessary to help these students on an on-going basis.
  
  
• At the elementary level, while "substantial" harm may not result, we do have literally hundreds of incidents throughout a school year where extremely troubled children must have support and intervention services available to meet their needs. While district services are available, community mental health providers have a three-month waiting list.
  
  
• There are no local community services available - only district or county services.
  
  
• Plus property damages. Need more outside resources for intensive anger management.
  
  
• We have great difficulty in our county getting children that have the above behavioral descriptors out of the schools and be court ordered to hospitalization or residential placement.
  
  
• It is very difficult to deal with this population especially with the discipline provision in IDEA.
  
  
• Services in Jr. and Sr. high students are inadequate.
  
  
• Limited nursing care; no pro-active intervention at school or community level; significant drug and alcohol problem in the community.
  
  
• We have one of the identified students mentioned above on a shortened schedule, and pretty much self-contained. It was our only alternative to expulsion.
  
  
• The child in question is a fourth grader who is autistic. He lashes out, kicks, hits, punches, etc. As he is getting older and stronger, the problem is escalating. We are on the verge of losing his one-on-one aide because of safety issues.
  
  
• We have excellent support from _ Health and Human Services.
  
  
• Very difficult to [illegible] Autism case. Have been in discussions with _ regarding this issue. I think our major issue is in elementary with a growing number of aggressive students with Autism or disabilities that can result in their propensity to
  
  
• No community support.
  
  
• More options for alternate programming are needed.
  
  
• Assault and fighting - There has been a violent act of property destruction but the individuals responsible have not been caught. The prime suspects are 2 ED students.
  
  
• We don't have much beyond regular school. Unable to provide without accessing court documents.
  
  
• [Services available,] not for serve cases. This is a K-8 school district.
  
  
• We feel increasingly challenged to serve a population of students who lack self-control despite the fact that we employ 23 certified special educators, 2 alternative school teachers, 6 principals, 4 counselors, 2 school psychologists, and I school social worker in a PK-12 district of just 1640 students. An eight-bed group home for adjudicated delinquents serves a population of high school aged students who are typically violent, often from urban communities and very difficult to serve. A domestic abuse shelter also introduces us to a disproportionate number of elementary aged children who have learned violent behavior from their family lives. Our community social services department is an ineffective treatment resource that also resists referrals to other resources. We see parents who can't control their elementary aged children become parents who are controlled by and afraid of their teenaged children.
  
  
• Educational opportunities are comprised by students who commit violent acts or other serious behavioral issues. The Special Education label protects their rights above all others' rights.
  
  
• Social Services tries to handle these kids but cannot.
  
  
• This is a pervasive issue over time. Legislation and efforts by activist groups, while well intentioned, has tied the hands of educators and even parents in working with students. Truly, there are students who exhibit behaviors that could be curbed by more proactive disciplines that were always appropriate and never were abusive.
  
  
• We could still use more help with these kids.
  
  
• Lack of response by HSS. Thanks for the survey. We need to isolate these students from harming others and find solutions to addressing their specific needs - public schools are not equipped to handle mental problems and violence exhibited by some of these students.
  
  
• No, students have sufficient community services.
  
  
• Hard to know - services are 20-40 miles away.
  
  
• Available services - but questionable level of participation.
  
  
• I don't know, as I haven't had to access them [community services].
  
  
• The current group of students seems to be unique. It has the smallest number of violent and potentially violent students ever.
  
  
• My count is probably low. I do not get told about all matters that occur.
  
  
• [Community services] yes, for two other students, but our annual cost is in excess of $50,000 each!
  
  
• This is a very important study. I look forward to reading the results.
  
  
• Not enough community services available.
  
  
• We identify students but parents are reluctant to transfer them to a school where their needs may be better met. As a result we have our LD teachers trying to meet the needs of ED students.
  
  
• We have to utilize services that are outside our immediate community, which limits accessibility and utilization because of distance and cost.
  
  
• This student exhibits behavior but not in program because [illegible] are placement/beginning from "home school environment"!
  
  
• Some of our students need more services than our school can provide.
  
  
• County Social Services have consistently failed to provide services or to support the school district.
  
  
• In general, law enforcement, courts, human services etc. have been able to provide adequate coverage.
  
  
• Haven't been tested [ on community services ]
  
  
• When we have students like this - it is very difficult to provide services for them. We need to look at more wrap-around services.
  
  
• For all students - their needs go beyond what a school can do.
  
  
• Some ED requires additional services.
  
  
• Not sure of exact numbers, I know that incidents have occurred against staff and students. We have some services; however, many more students need them. For those who receive the additional services, there seem to be positive changes for those students
  
  
• The options for services for K-8 students are not adequate. This population is more impulsive and a growing number exhibit violent behaviors.
  
  
• We do not currently have any students who would qualify as extremely violent or dangerous in our schools.
  
  
• One day per week _ counseling from clinic 32 miles away.
  
  
• Schools are not mental health facilities, yet we continually are seeing more and more youth with severe behavioral/emotional issues, which are extremely resistant to many school-based interventions.
  
  
• [Community services] for disabled (yes), non-disabled (no).
  
  
• County does not have the resources needed to meet the needs of our kids.
  
  
• Needs of these students can't be met by school alone. We aren't always made aware of why foster kids are placed here?
  
  
• We have an excellent Integrated Services Project through our county that is vital for these children.
  
  
• Support from sheriff and social services are inadequate.
  
  
• Numbers are approximate but accurate in terms of these issues.
  
  
• Not all principals agree.
  
  
• How does a person answer [about services]? I hope we do, but . . . We have been lucky on this issue for a few years. Also, few are violent to the extent those that are face suspension/expulsion
  
  
• We do the best we can with limited resources; however, we often feel very alone due to a lack of coordinated community services. These are usually complex family issues, not just student issues/concerns. We at school, often feel as if we are left "holding the bag" when it comes to these types of student concerns. We need more coordinated community/school services if lasting changes are to be accomplished!
  
  
• There are several ED students who have gotten into physical altercations in the community. [Community services] not for AODA, drug truancy. Our community/county generally lacks effective resources to deal with our troubled students.
  
  
• We work well with county agencies-- as well as community agencies!
  
  
• The county is involved with one and is effectively helping.
  
  
• We are located west of the "I" which means that vast majority of services are directed east to the city. We are K-8 of 520 kids.
  
  
• Property damages in both. As a small school district, we have had our share of violent students. We don't have many now, but the population is very transient. Due to the nature of needing community services, these families move frequently. When students like these are enrolled in small schools, the impact is felt by staff as well as other students. They have a tendency to have a large impact on the behavior of others.
  
  
• It is difficult to determine if available services are adequate - what determines adequate?
  
  
• County Human Services intervention for drug/alcohol/abuse etc., needs improvement.
  
  
• All services are not adequate for these students.
  
  
• Some are [community services] some are not. · This is a problem that must be addressed. It is becoming more frequent throughout our schools.
  

Posted May 16, 2002