Reporters across the country who have looked at school violence statistics say there is one big problem with the data: inconsistent reporting.
In Raleigh, N.C., WRAL-TV reporter Stuart Watson found cases of sexual harassment reported as sexual assault and bullets reported as guns.
In Virginia, the state's first-ever "report card" had numbers that seemed to defy reality for three school districts of roughly the same size, according to Jeff South, a journalism professor at Virginia Commonwealth University. Here's what the state said: City of Richmond, 188 reported incidents; Henrico County, a suburb, 859 incidents; and Chesterfield County, a suburb, 11 incidents.
The Richmond Times Dispatch published articles at the beginning of April telling the public about the discrepancies in the data.
"Educators have cautioned that some of the numbers – particularly those that record incidents of violence – are subject to the interpretation of the schools reporting them and may not be reliable as points of comparison from school to school and division to division," one of the Times Dispatch articles said.
So how do you overcome this problem?
Several reporters from around the country – both print and broadcast – chimed in with some suggestions, based on their own experiences. What follows is an overview of what they had to say.
The first step is to study the data, looking for "numbers that seem to defy reality," and ask for written guidelines on how school officials defined or categorized violent incidents, South recommended.
Watson suggested running an internal check by comparing school data against alternative sources such as police logs or reports and other school reports. Even if the school has its own police force, city police or sheriff's deputies may also take reports of criminal activity at schools.
Be sure to ask data collection or analysis people to explain any discrepancies and call the schools directly to double check the numbers.
"We found keypunch errors and principals who did not read definitions or follow simple instructions," Watson said.
Scott Smallwood of the Albuquerque Journal, said it's important to ask how crimes are reported – whether the principal tells someone or students go directly to officers on campus.
He also found those schools with more serious crime and drug problems tended to be more diligent in reporting.
"(Under-reporting) is probably more likely with the lesser incidents – from vandalism to simple assault to disorderly conduct. Our feeling was it would be harder to keep quiet about robberies, rapes and serious assaults with officers patrolling the campuses," he said.
But ultimately the only way to overcome discrepancies in the data is an old-fashioned technique called interviewing people. Talk to students, educators, police officers, state officials and anyone else who can shed some light on the "reality" behind the numbers.
And finally, be extremely careful in how you report the numbers. Be sure to clarify any discrepancies and throw out any numbers or comparisons that you can't verify as accurate.
MaryJo Sylwester can be reached by e-mail at maryjo@nicar.org