Data for the disruption and control factors were collected from a national sample of more than 10,000 public and private school students aged 12 and older as part of the 1989 School Crime supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey. Findings indicate that alcohol and marijuana are perceived to be available at school by more than half of the student respondents. Fifteen to 16 percent of students said that street gangs were present in their schools or that a student had attacked or threatened a teacher in the 6 months before the interview. Almost all schools engaged in some control and disciplinary activities. Monitoring and patrolling halls and school buildings and grounds were most common. Logistic regression analyses that included school characteristics and indicators of disruption showed a direct relationship between disruption and the use of control and disciplinary measures. This suggests that schools are reactive rather than proactive in their efforts to control disruption. This study recommends a proactive approach that will minimize negative impacts on schools' educational mission. 2 tables and a 3-item bibliography