School Crime and Safety

A joint effort by the National Center for Education Statistics and the Bureau of Justice Statistics, this annual report examines crime occurring in schools and colleges. This report presents data on crime at school from the perspectives of students, teachers, principals, and the general population from an array of sources—the National Crime Victimization Survey, the School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey, the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, the School Survey on Crime and Safety, the Schools and Staffing Survey, EDFacts, and the Campus Safety and Security Survey. The report covers topics such as victimization, bullying, school conditions, fights, weapons, the presence of security staff at school, availability and student use of drugs and alcohol, student perceptions of personal safety at school, and criminal incidents at postsecondary institutions.

Musu-Gillette, L., Zhang, A., Wang, K., Zhang, J., Kemp, J., Dilibert, M., & Oudekerk, B. (2017). Indicators of school crime and safety: 2017. Washington, D.C.: National Center for Education Statistics, & the Bureau of Justice Statistics. https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2018/2018036.pdf

Digital Transition in Education

This survey by CoSN, AASA, and MDR found that as education goes digital, school system technology leaders face many challenges in planning their future education networks, especially around factors of affordability, network speed and capacity, network reliability, and a lack of competition for broadband services in too many communities. For the first time this year, survey respondents indicated that the number one factor driving the need for growth in internet bandwidth was the increased number of students with devices. Other key driving factors were growth in online assessments and digital content. Key findings are organized around the major themes of this report – affordability, network speed and capacity, reliability and lack of connection, security and cloud-based services.

CoSN, AASA, & MDR (2016). CoSN’s 2016 annual infrastructure survey. United States: CoSN, AASA, & MDR.

https://cosn.org/sites/default/files/CoSN_4th_Annual_Survey_Nov%202%20FINAL.pdf

IT leadership survey

Student data privacy and security are among many IT leaders' to-do lists, according to an annual survey. Data show top concerns also include broadband and network capacity issues. Districts are turning to digital learning materials, and 99% intend to incorporate OERs. Furthermore, nearly 80% of IT leaders use online productivity tools.
CoSN. (2016). K-12 IT leadership survey report.  Washington, DC: OcSN.
http://cosn.org/itsurvey

Online privacy report

A new survey finds that most internet users would like to be anonymous online, but many think it is not possible to be completely anonymous online. Some of the key findings:

• 86% of internet users have taken steps online to remove or mask their digital footprints—ranging from clearing cookies to encrypting their email.
• 55% of internet users have taken steps to avoid observation by specific people, organizations, or the government.

The representative survey of 792 internet users also finds that notable numbers of internet users say they have experienced problems because others stole their personal information or otherwise took advantage of their visibility online. Specifically:

• 21% of internet users have had an email or social networking account compromised or taken over by someone else without permission.
• 12% have been stalked or harassed online.
• 11% have had important personal information stolen such as their Social Security Number, credit card, or bank account information.
• 6% have been the victim of an online scam and lost money.
• 6% have had their reputation damaged because of something that happened online.
• 4% have been led into physical danger because of something that happened online.

 Lee Rainie, et. al. (2013). Anonymity, privacy, and security online. Washington, DC: Pew Research Center.

http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/Anonymity-online.aspx