Dive Brief:

• In a report, the National Center for Education Statistics says 70% of schools have drills on how to respond to an active shooter on a campus, and 88% have created a written plan to deal with the scenario.

• But this comes as 65% of schools reported at least one major violent incident during the 2013-2014 school year, down from 74% in the 2009-2010 school year.
• High schools, as might be expected, had a significantly higher rate of violence, with over 90% reporting a violent incident in 2013-14, compared to 53% of elementary schools.

Dive Insight:

So what came first: The security or the improved safety? It's hard to say, especially as schools increased security spending in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting in 2012. But this survey of school principals indicates that while violent incidents have dropped at schools, they are a very long way from becoming rare or even terribly unusual.