Sokol, R., Medina Del Toro, V., Degli Esposti, M., Kernsmith, P. D., Victor, B. G., Hsieh, H. F., & Heinze, J. E. (2025). School-Wide Attendance Rates and Firearm-Involved Expulsions in Michigan K-12 Public Schools, 2018–2022. Journal of School Violence, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1080/15388220.2025.2491812
ABSTRACT
This ecological study estimated associations between school-wide attendance and expulsions for student firearm possession using administrative data for Michigan public K-12 schools from 2018–2022 (N = 2,866 schools). Between the 2018–19 and 2021–22 school years, 77 Michigan public schools (2.7%) expelled students for firearm possession. In unadjusted models, higher rates of on-track attendance (i.e. the proportion of students who attend ≥90% of school days) were associated with lower odds of the school having an expulsion for student firearm possession (OR = 0.96; 95% CI = 0.95, 0.97). This association remained after adjusting for student body demographics, school building characteristics, and school rates of student interpersonal violence and discipline (aOR = 0.97; 95% CI = 0.95, 0.98). Efforts to improve school-wide attendance may offer a primary and universal prevention avenue against student firearm possession.
KEYWORDS: School, firearms, school violence, ecological study