In 1999-2000, teachers in central city schools were more likely than their peers in urban fringe or rural schools to be threatened with injury or physically attacked.

Some of the offenses against teachers are committed by students. Data on the extent to which students make threats or physically attack elementary and secondary teachers can provide a snapshot of this problem. In the Schools and Staffing Survey, teachers were asked whether they had been threatened with injury or physically attacked by a student in the previous 12 months. The survey results indicate that a smaller percentage of elementary and secondary school teachers were threatened with injury by a student at their school in the 1999-2000 school year than in the 1993-94 school year (9 vs. 12 percent) (table 10.1). No difference was detected in the percentage of teachers physically attacked by a student in the 1999-2000 school year compared to the 1993-94 school year (4 percent in both years) (table 10.2).

In 1999-2000, few differences were detected in the likelihood of teachers being victims of attacks or threats by students according to teachers' race/ethnicity (tables 10.1 and 10.2). One such difference was that Black teachers were more likely to be threatened than White teachers in 1999-2000 (12 vs. 9 percent).

In both survey years, teachers in central city schools were more likely to be threatened with injury or physically attacked than teachers in urban fringe or rural schools (figure 10.1 and tables 10.1 and 10.2). For example, in 1999-2000, 11 percent of teachers in central city schools had been threatened with injury by students, compared with 8 percent each in urban fringe and rural schools. Five percent of teachers in central city schools had been attacked by students, while 3 percent each of teachers in urban fringe and rural schools had experienced such attacks.

In 1999-2000, teachers' reports of being victimized or attacked by a student varied according to the level and sector of their school. Secondary school teachers were more likely than elementary school teachers to have been threatened with injury by a student (10 vs. 8 percent); however, secondary school teachers were less likely to have been physically attacked (2 vs. 6 percent). Public school teachers were more likely than private school teachers to be victimized by students in school (figure 10.2 and tables 10.1 and 10.2): 10 percent of public school teachers had been threatened with injury, compared with 4 percent of private school teachers. Likewise, 4 percent of public school teachers and 2 percent of private school teachers had been physically attacked by students. Among teachers in central city schools, those at public schools were four times more likely to be targets of threats of injury than their colleagues in private schools (14 vs. 3 percent) and about three times more likely to be targets of attacks (6 vs. 2 percent).

This indicator repeats information from the 2003 Indicators of School Crime and Safety report.