Dive Brief:
- About 15% of fourth-graders in the United States and 7% of eighth-graders had experienced bullying at least once a month in 2015, according to a study of school safety data from 2009-2015 conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics.
- However, many teachers and students have reported decreases in unsafe behavior and bullying. The reports of students bullied once a week fell between 2000 to 2014. However, a higher percentage of students who identified as a gay, lesbian or bisexual reported higher rates of bullying than self-identified heterosexual students in 2015.
- There were 804 total reported hate crimes on college campuses in 2014; the most common crimes were intimidation, after which were destruction, damage, vandalism and assault. 65% of public schools reported that one more incidents of violence took place during the course of the 2013-2014 school year.
Dive Insight:
Recent research shows school safety was a factor in ensuring strong teacher retention, indicating that administrators and district leaders can save costs in the long run by not having to fill teacher vacancies, even if it takes investments on ensuring safety in the classroom. A recent District Administration survey of K-12 administrators indicated that there was interest in funding additional security measures; 43% of respondents were interested in improving surveillance security, while 35% were interested in better preparing students and staff for an active shooter scenario. The tech advancements will take investments of time and money on the part of administrators, but ensuring the safety of students and teachers will improve the school climate, raising the chances that more teachers will be willing to remain in the profession.
However, administrators must also continue to grapple with cyberbullying, the type of violence which cannot easily be captured on surveillance video, and can often take place outside school grounds. Advocates continue to urge administrators not to consider cyberbullying as something lesser than or separate to other types of bullying. Reginald Corbett, the founder of cyber awareness education organization SafeCyber, noted that schools must focus on the behavior of children when utilizing devices, rather than restricting their access to them (which could inhibit digital literacy). He also suggested schools could partner with outside organizations to help inform students about the consequences of bullying and make it clear that cyberbullying does not lessen the negative consequences and implications.