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- Taking a closer look at the school violence numbers
- Safety post still needed, former advocate says
- Search: School-by-school violence data
- TEACHER SURVEY: see the results here
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- A Fla. district leads in violence prevention
- Philadelphia looking to decrease its reliance on use of out-of-school suspensions
Search our unique database for schools by name, zip-code or school type. Find detailed data about each school including totals for violent incidents, totals by crime type and how each school compares to other district schools in its violent crime rate.
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How this series was reported
Five Inquirer reporters devoted a year to examining violence in the Philadelphia public schools, conducting more than 300 interviews with teachers, administrators, students and their families, district officials, police officers, court officials, and school violence experts.
The Inquirer created a database to analyze more than 30,000 serious incidents - from assaults to robberies to rapes - that occurred during the last five years. That information was supplemented by district and state data on suspensions, intervention and 9-1-1 calls. Reporters also examined police reports, court records, transcripts, contracts and school security video.
The Inquirer also enlisted Temple University to conduct an independent survey of the district's 13,000 teachers and aides. More than 750 teachers and aides responded to questions about violence and its impact on students' education.
The newspaper also obtained internal district documents detailing violent incidents during the past five years. On specific cases, reporters interviewed victims, perpetrators, police, attorneys, witnesses, and attended court hearings.
One reporter had regular access over nearly six months to students, teachers and administrators inside South Philadelphia High School, one of the city’s most dangerous schools.
School Violence Definitions
Persistently Dangerous
The Pennsylvania Department of Education labels a school persistently dangerous if it has student arrests for dangerous incidents in the most recent school year and in one additional year of the two years prior to the most recent school year.
The number of incidents is based on enrollment. Schools with more than 1000 students must have 20 or more dangerous incidents. Dangerous incidents include both weapons possession and violent incidents such as homicide, kidnapping, robbery, sexual offenses, and aggravated assaults.
Serious Incidents
The School District of Philadelphia labels incidents as serious or nonserious. Serious incidents include assault, robbery, morals, shooting, stabbing, weapon, abduction or attempt, setting fires, and drug or alcohol offenses. Other crimes considered nonserious include disorderly conduct, threats, bullying, and extortion.
Violent Incidents
To study school violence The Inquirer included all serious incidents except setting fires and drug or alcohol offenses.
Crime Rate
As is typically done to study crime uniformly, The Inquirer calculated the rate of crimes to control for differences in enrollment. For schools the rate is per 100 students. For the district, the rate is per 1,000.
Public School
The series focuses on 268 public schools operated by the district in 2009-10. Not included are charters or schools run by private operators.
Focus 46
In the fall of 2010 the district identified 46 troubled schools. The list includes the 19 persistently dangerous schools plus 27 others with similar characteristics. The program tracks violence, daily attendance, chronic truancy, out-of-school suspensions and the number of students facing expulsion, transfer or referral to hearing officers. These schools receive safety audits, training and additional scrutiny.
Recent Reports
Pennsylvania Auditor General’s Audit of the Philadelphia School District (Pa. Auditor General)
Zero Tolerance in Philadelphia (Youth United for Change and The Advancement Project)
Pushed Out: Youth Voices on the Dropout Crisis in Philadelphia (Youth United for Change)
Platform of the Campaign for Nonviolent Schools (Campaign for Nonviolent Schools)
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