What’s really going on in Michigan’s schools? What problems are students facing and how have those problems changed over the years?
This interactive investigative report allows you to explore data from Michigan’s student safety program (OK2SAY) and Michigan’s Center for Educational Performance and Information (CEPI).
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The interactive investigative report embedded below. Here’s what’s in it:
- Data from Michigan’s student safety program (OK2SAY) dating back to 2014.
- Data from Michigan’s Center for Educational Performance and Information (CEPI) that breaks down incidents of bullying and the number of violent crime victims in Michigan’s schools.
- To check your school district “search for data by county” and choose the county your school is in.
Explore Michigan school safety data here:
What to know about the CEPI data
How violent crime victims are counted
The CEPI data on violent crime is “the number of students who have been victims of violent criminal offenses on school property or at a school-sponsored activity over the past school year.”
For a student to be considered a victim of a violent criminal offense, their parent or legal guardian has to make a written complaint to law enforcement and to the school. This written complaint is enough and they are counted even if police do not investigate.
Violent crimes include criminal sexual conduct, other serious assaults that either constitute a felony violation or inflict serious or aggravated injury.
How bullying is counted
These are the number of incidents of bullying between a student and another person or persons. To be counted, they have to have occurred throughout the school year at school or at a school-sponsored activity.
Bullying means “any written, verbal, or physical act, or any electronic communication, including, but not limited to, cyberbullying, that is intended or that a reasonable person would know is likely to harm 1 or more pupils”.
To be counted, bullying must do any of the following:
- Substantially interfering with educational opportunities, benefits, or programs of 1 or more pupils.
- Adversely affecting the ability of a pupil to participate in or benefit from the school district’s or public school’s educational programs or activities by placing the pupil in reasonable fear of physical harm or by causing substantial emotional distress.
- Having an actual and substantial detrimental effect on a pupil’s physical or mental health.
- Causing substantial disruption in, or substantial interference with, the orderly operation of the school.
When reported data may be duplicated
There are some cases in which the CEPI believed the numbers were likely duplicative. In those cases, the numbers in the chart above were halved to reflect what is more likely to be accurate.
What to know about the OK2SAY data
An OK2SAY tip is information sent to OK2SAY. The number of tips does not equal the number of incidents. A tip is counted even if multiple tips come in for the same incident.
For example, in 2024, OK2SAY reported 11,671 tips, regarding 8952 incidents.