About 20 percent of middle and high schools reported at least one serious violent crime, and about 55 percent reported at least one less serious violent or nonviolent crime. Elementary schools had a lower rate than either middle or high schools. Much national attention is focusing on bullying as a significant factor in school violence. The incidence of bullying declined as grade level increased. Students in sixth grade were about four times as likely as students in 12th grade to report being bullied at school in the 1992-93 school year.
Students seem to feel less safe at school now than a few years ago.
By 1995, this percentage had risen to 9 percent. During the same period, the percentage of students fearing they would be attacked while traveling to and from school rose from 4 percent to 7 percent. The percentage of students ages 12 through 19 who reported avoiding one or more places at school for their own safety increased from 5 percent in 1989 to 9 percent in 1995. In 1995, the 9 percent figure represented 2.1 million students. Much of the 1989 to 1995 increase in the percentage of students in this age bracket fearing for their own safety at school resulted from an increased rate of fear among Black students.