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Preprimary, Elementary, and Secondary Education

Teachers Threatened With Injury or Physically Attacked by Students

Last Updated: September 2023
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This indicator also appears under School Crime and Safety.
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During the 2020–21 school year, a higher percentage of elementary public school teachers than of secondary public school teachers reported being threatened with injury (8 vs. 4 percent) or being physically attacked (7 vs. 1 percent) by a student from their school.
Students are not the only victims of intimidation and violence in schools. Teachers are also subject to threats and physical attacks, and students from their schools sometimes commit these offenses. In 2015–16 and 2020–21, the National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS) asked public school teachers1 whether they were threatened with injury or physically attacked by a student from their school in the previous 12 months. These questions were also asked in the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) administered in 2011–12. The NTPS was designed to allow comparisons with SASS data. However, because the 2015–16 NTPS was only administered to public school teachers, whereas SASS and the 2020–21 NTPS were administered to both public and private school teachers, this indicator focuses on public school teachers only. This indicator presents data on incidents reported on these surveys, which may or may not have been reported to another entity (e.g., the school or law enforcement).

Select a subgroup characteristic from the drop-down menu below to view relevant text and figures.

All available findings Grade level/Student level Race/ethnicity Sex or gender Time series
Figure 1. Percentage of public school teachers who reported that they were threatened with injury or physically attacked by a student from their school during the previous 12 months: School years 2011–12, 2015–16, and 2020–21
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A confidence interval is a range of values that describes the uncertainty surrounding an estimate. Throughout the Condition of Education, confidence intervals are calculated as the estimate +/- the margin of error, based on a 95 percent level of confidence. This means that there is 95 percent certainty that the range includes the true or actual value of the statistic.
Confidence Interval
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NOTE: To estimate the margin of error, the standard error is scaled based on the desired level of confidence in the estimate. Throughout the Condition of Education, margins of error are produced based on a 95 percent level of confidence. Margin of error is calculated as 1.96*standard error. Includes teachers in both traditional public schools and public charter schools. Excludes teachers who taught only prekindergarten students. Although rounded numbers are displayed, the figures are based on unrounded data.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), “Public School Teacher Data File,” 2011–12; and National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS), “Public School Teacher Data File,” 2015–16 and 2020–21. See Digest of Education Statistics 2022, table 228.70.

During the 2020–21 school year, 6 percent of public school teachers reported being threatened with injury by a student from their school. This percentage was lower than in 2011–12 and 2015–16 (10 percent each). Threats of injury were more commonly reported than actual physical attacks in all survey years. The percentage of public school teachers who reported that they had been physically attacked by a student from their school was lower in 2020–21 (4 percent) than in 2011–12 and 2015–16 (6 percent each). These lower reported rates of being threatened with injury or physically attacked in 2020–21 were generally observed for both male and female teachers and for teachers of different racial/ethnic backgrounds.2 It should be noted that the 2020 calendar year was the first year of the coronavirus pandemic, and many schools shifted instruction from in-person classes to online-only or hybrid education. Thus, in-person interactions between students and teachers may have been limited. [Time series ]
Figure 2. Percentage of public school teachers who reported that they were threatened with injury or physically attacked by a student from their school during the previous 12 months, by teacher sex and race/ethnicity: School year 2020–21
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Sex1 Race/ethnicity
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A confidence interval is a range of values that describes the uncertainty surrounding an estimate. Throughout the Condition of Education, confidence intervals are calculated as the estimate +/- the margin of error, based on a 95 percent level of confidence. This means that there is 95 percent certainty that the range includes the true or actual value of the statistic.
Confidence Interval
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†Not applicable.

‡ Reporting standards not met. Either there are too few cases for a reliable estimate or the coefficient of variation (CV) is 50 percent or greater.

1 Teachers were asked whether they were male or female. Although the figure refers to “sex,” the questionnaire did not use either the term “gender” or the term “sex.”

NOTE: To estimate the margin of error, the standard error is scaled based on the desired level of confidence in the estimate. Throughout the Condition of Education, margins of error are produced based on a 95 percent level of confidence. Margin of error is calculated as 1.96*standard error. Includes teachers in both traditional public schools and public charter schools. Excludes teachers who taught only prekindergarten students. Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity. Data for Pacific Islanders did not meet reporting standards. Although rounded numbers are displayed, the figures are based on unrounded data.

SOURCE: National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS), “Public School Teacher Data File,” 2020-21. See Digest of Education Statistics 2022, table 228.70.

During the 2020–21 school year, a higher percentage of female public school teachers than of male public school teachers reported being threatened with injury by a student from their school (6 vs. 5 percent). Similarly, a higher percentage of female public school teachers than of male public school teachers reported being physically attacked by a student (5 vs. 2 percent). [Sex or gender]
The percentages of public school teachers who reported being threatened with injury or being physically attacked by a student from their school varied by the race/ethnicity of the teacher. In the 2020–21 school year, the percentages of public school teachers who reported being threatened with injury were
  • higher for teachers of Two or more races (7 percent) and White teachers (6 percent) than for Black (4 percent), Hispanic (4 percent), and Asian teachers (2 percent); and
  • higher for American Indian/Alaska Native (8 percent), Black, and Hispanic teachers than for Asian teachers.
In the 2020–21 school year, the percentages of public school teachers who reported being physically attacked by a student ranged from 2 to 6 percent across racial/ethnic groups. Specifically, these percentages were
  • higher for teachers of Two or more races (6 percent) and White teachers (4 percent) than for Hispanic (3 percent), Asian (3 percent), and Black teachers (2 percent); and
  • higher for Hispanic teachers than for Black teachers.
[Race/ethnicity ]
Figure 3. Percentage of public school teachers who reported that they were threatened with injury or physically attacked by a student from their school during the previous 12 months, by instructional level: School year 2020–21
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Users can select any combination of available years and categories in any figure format (i.e., bar or table). The initial selection of years and categories may not be optimal in different views.
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A confidence interval is a range of values that describes the uncertainty surrounding an estimate. Throughout the Condition of Education, confidence intervals are calculated as the estimate +/- the margin of error, based on a 95 percent level of confidence. This means that there is 95 percent certainty that the range includes the true or actual value of the statistic.
Confidence Interval
Bar | Table
Users can select years at irregular intervals. However, as a result, the distance between the data points will not be proportional to the number of years between them.
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NOTE: To estimate the margin of error, the standard error is scaled based on the desired level of confidence in the estimate. Throughout the Condition of Education, margins of error are produced based on a 95 percent level of confidence. Margin of error is calculated as 1.96*standard error. Includes teachers in both traditional public schools and public charter schools. Excludes teachers who taught only prekindergarten students. Teachers were classified as elementary or secondary on the basis of the grades they taught, rather than on the level of the school in which they taught. In general, elementary teachers include those teaching prekindergarten through grade 6 and those teaching multiple grades, with a preponderance of grades taught being kindergarten through grade 6. In general, secondary teachers include those teaching any of grades 7 through 12 and those teaching multiple grades, with a preponderance of grades taught being grades 7 through 12 and usually with no grade taught being lower than grade 5.

SOURCE: National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS), “Public School Teacher Data File,” 2020–21. See Digest of Education Statistics 2022, table 228.70.

The percentages of public school teachers who reported being threatened with injury or being physically attacked by a student from their school also varied by the instructional level3 of the teacher. During the 2020–21 school year, higher percentages of elementary public school teachers than of secondary public school teachers reported being threatened with injury (8 vs. 4 percent) and being physically attacked (7 vs. 1 percent) by a student. [Grade level/Student level]

1 Includes teachers in both traditional public schools and public charter schools. Excludes teachers who taught only prekindergarten students.

2 Data for teachers who are Asian, Pacific Islander, American Indian/Alaska Native, and of Two or more races were not available in 2011–12. Data for Pacific Islander teachers did not meet reporting standards in 2020–21. Data for American Indian/Alaska Native teachers on being physically attacked by a student from their school did not meet reporting standards in 2020–21.

3 Teachers were classified as elementary or secondary on the basis of the grades they taught, rather than on the level of the school in which they taught. In general, elementary teachers include those teaching any of grades prekindergarten through grade 6 and those teaching multiple grades, with a preponderance of grades taught being kindergarten through grade 6. In general, secondary teachers include those teaching any of grades 7 through 12 and those teaching multiple grades, with a preponderance of grades taught being grades 7 through 12 and usually with no grade taught being lower than grade 5.

Supplemental Information

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Table 228.70 (Digest 2022): Number and percentage of public school teachers who reported that they were threatened with injury or physically attacked by a student from school during the previous 12 months, by selected teacher characteristics: Selected school years, 1993-94 through 2020-21
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Elementary school Instructional level Physical attack or fight Private school Public school or institution Racial/ethnic group Secondary school
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Previous versions of this indicator available in the Indicators of School Crime and Safety reports.
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Suggested Citation

National Center for Education Statistics. (2023). Teachers Threatened With Injury or Physically Attacked by Students. Condition of Education. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved [date], from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/a05.
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