The N.C. State Board of Education will review the 2016-17 Consolidated Data Report this week.  The report includes data related to school crime and violence, short- and long-term suspensions, dropouts, expulsions, alternative learning programs, and corporal punishment.

Here are a few highlights directly from the report:

  • The number of reportable crimes by high school students decreased by 231 from 2015-16 to 2016-17, a 4.0% decrease. The high school reportable crime rate decreased 4.9%. There was an overall decrease in reportable crimes for all grades of 186, a decrease of 1.9%. The overall crime rate decrease was 2.1%.
  • There were 83,300 grades 9-13 short-term suspensions reported statewide in 2016-17, a decrease of 5.9% from the 2015-16 total of 88,559.
  • The number of long-term suspensions (11 or more days) for all students declined 32.9% from 1,036 in 2015-16 to 695 in 2016-17. Average school days per suspension decreased from 76.6 to 73.9 school days. High school students received 458 long-term suspensions, a 34.8% decrease from 2015-16.
  • The number of expulsions decreased 33.3% from 27 in 2015-16 to 18 in 2016-17. High school students received 17 of the 18 expulsions.
  • Alternative schools and programs (ALPs) reported 13,397 student placements in 2016-17, a 4.3% decrease from 2015-16. There were 12,224 individual students placed in ALPs during the 2016-17 school year. LEAs made 5,054 assignments of students to ALPs as disciplinary actions.
  • High schools in North Carolina reported 11,097 dropouts in 2016-17. The grade 9-13 dropout rate in 2016-17 was 2.31%, up from the 2.29% reported for 2015-16. The increase in the dropout rate was 0.9%.
  • There were 75 uses of corporal punishment statewide in 2016-17, a 2.7% increase from the 73 uses reported in 2015-16. Corporal punishment was used at least once by only two LEAs. Charter schools and the remaining 113 LEAs did not use corporal punishment.

Last year, there were 105 reported incidents of the possession of a firearm or powerful explosive.  The most frequently reported crime was the possession of a controlled substance.