Disciplinary practices and perceptions of school safety

This study of a sample of 4,044 eighth grade students taken from the Nation al Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88) was designed to examine the contribution that zero-tolerance disciplinary policies, school climate , parents' and teachers' perceptions of disciplinary climate make to studen ts' perceptions of the school's disciplinary climate. Additionally, this st udy examined whether school location (i.e., urban and suburban) and school type (i.e., public and private) are associated with differences in discipli nary practices, perceptions of school discipline and school climate. Zero-t olerance disciplinary policies were found to be both directly and indirectl y associated with students' perceptions of fewer discipline problems. Addit ionally, private schools can be characterized as having: tougher discipline policies; less teacher concern about school discipline; more student conce rn about school discipline; and more positive perceptions of school climate among administrators and parents than their public school counterparts. Im plications for social work practice are discussed.