Criteria for Designating Persistently Dangerous Schools using SVI
Each school year the Department shall establish a school violence index as a comparative measure of the level of school violence in a school. The school violence index (SVI) will be computed in accordance with a formula established by the Commissioner that considers the enrollment of the school and is weighted to reflect the most serious violent incidents, which shall include, but need not be limited to the following categories of incidents: homicide, forcible sexual offense, and incidents involving the possession, use, or threatened use of a weapon. 8 NYCCR ยง100.2 (gg)
The School Violence Index (SVI) is a ratio of violent incidents to enrollment in a school and is determined by the number of incidents, the seriousness of the incident, and the school’s enrollment. An SVI of 3.0 or greater, two years in a row is used to determine schools that are Persistently Dangerous.
The SVI is a ratio of the sum of the four violent incident categories (homicide, felony assault, felony sexual offense and weapons possession) per 100 students.
SVI = (sum of incidents in 4 serious categories)/enrollment x 100
Use the SVI Calculation Worksheet to calculate the SVI for each school.
Enter the total number of violent incidents for Homicide, Sexual offense, Assault, and Incidents involving the possession or use of a weapon in the table below.
- Sum the total number of violent incidents for each of the 4 most serious violent categories.
- Enter the school’s enrollment on BEDS Day.
- Calculate the SVI by dividing the number of total incidents by the enrollment and multiplying by 100 (round the SVI to the second decimal place).
- Indicate whether the SVI is greater than or equal to 3 (Yes or No).
Examples:
| Example 1: An elementary school with a BEDS Day enrollment of 351 reports zero homicides, zero sexual offenses, 1 assault, and 2 incidents of weapons possession would have an SVI of 0.85 | |
| Step 1: Enter the total number of violent incidents | |
| Violent incident category | Total number of incidents |
|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 |
| Sexual offense | 0 |
| Assault | 1 |
| Incidents involving the possession or use of a weapon | 2 |
| Step 2: Sum the total number of violent incidents | 3 |
| Step 3: Enter the school's enrollment on BEDS Day | 351 |
| Step 4: Calculate the SVI: Divid the total number of incidents by enrollment and multiply by 100 | 3/351 x 100 = 0.85 |
| Step 5: Is the SVI greater than or equal to 3? (Yes or No) | No |
| Example 2: A middle school with a BEDS Day enrollment of 987 reports zero homicides, zero sexual offenses, 1 assault, and 2 incidents of weapons possession would have an SVI of 0.30 | |
| Step 1: Enter the total number of violent incidents | |
| Violent incident category | Total number of incidents |
|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 |
| Sexual offense | 0 |
| Assault | 1 |
| Incidents involving the possession or use of a weapon | 2 |
| Step 2: Sum the total number of violent incidents | 3 |
| Step 3: Enter the school's enrollment on BEDS Day | 987 |
| Step 4: Calculate the SVI: Divid the total number of incidents by enrollment and multiply by 100 | 3/987 x 100 = 0.30 |
| Step 5: Is the SVI greater than or equal to 3? (Yes or No) | No |
| Example 3: A high school with a BEDS Day enrollment of 1315 reports zero homicides, two sexual offenses, 3 assault, and 15 incidents of weapons possession would have an SVI of 1.52 | |
| Step 1: Enter the total number of violent incidents | |
| Violent incident category | Total number of incidents |
|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 |
| Sexual offense | 2 |
| Assault | 3 |
| Incidents involving the possession or use of a weapon | 15 |
| Step 2: Sum the total number of violent incidents | 20 |
| Step 3: Enter the school's enrollment on BEDS Day | 1315 |
| Step 4: Calculate the SVI: Divid the total number of incidents by enrollment and multiply by 100 | 20/1315 x 100 = 1.52 |
| Step 5: Is the SVI greater than or equal to 3? (Yes or No) | No |