Addressing the Fear of School Violence Is Its Own Policy Challenge

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Violence is a persistent problem in U.S. schools; in fact, the United States has the highest rate of school shootings⁠ of any country in the world.^[1] High-profile, mass-casualty shooting incidents put the problem in the headlines for weeks to months afterward, which serves only to reemphasize the risk to school leaders, teachers, students, and their parents.

Although the chance of such violence at any individual school is thankfully still quite low, educators’ fear that such an incident could happen is distressingly high. In RAND American Educator Panel (AEP)⁠^[2] surveys fielded annually in the past three school years (one each in the 2022–2023 and 2022–2023 school years and two in the 2024–2025 school year), RAND school safety researchers have documented a consistent and significant level of educator fear of violence (see Figure 1). For example, in our survey of K–12 principals in winter 2025, 22 percent—more than one in five—said that they were concerned about being the victim of an attack or harm at their school. Forty percent expressed similar concerns for their students. Teachers reported similar levels of fear in fall 2024: Twenty-one percent were concerned for their own safety, but 45 percent—or nearly half—were afraid that their students would be victims of school violence. Fortunately, data we collected from a sample of school-aged youth across the country that same school year suggest that students are less fearful than educators were of violence at school: Roughly 90 percent of students reported feeling safe at school.

Afraid for self

• Teachers:
  • Oct. 2022: 17%
  • Oct. 2023: 24%
  • Oct. 2024: 21%
• Principals:
  • Oct. 2024: 15%
  • Jan. 2025: 22%

Afraid for students

• Teachers:
  • Oct. 2022: 34%
  • Oct. 2023: 47%
  • Oct. 2024: 45%
  • Jan. 2025: 45%
• Principals:
  • Oct. 2024: 46%
  • Jan. 2025: 40%

NOTE: This figure depicts response data from the following survey questions administered to teachers in the RAND American Teacher Panel and to school principals in the RAND American School Leader Panel: “Are you afraid of being the victim of attack or harm at your school?” and “Are you afraid that students at your school will be the victims of attack or harm?” (n = 973 teachers in October 2022; n = 1,005 teachers in October 2023; n = 960 teachers in October 2024; n = 970 principals in October 2024; n = 1,746 principals in January 2025).

Importantly, educators’ fear about the possibility of school violence is more widespread than direct experience with school violence itself is. That is, the share of educators who have experienced violence in their districts is lower than the share who are concerned about the possibility of violence. In our surveys, approximately one in ten principals reported that a school in their district had experienced an incident of firearm violence in the preceding five years. When we asked teachers this same question, slightly more (16 percent) reported that their districts had experienced a recent gun violence incident.

That said, previous experience with violent incidents likely shapes educators’ fear of being the victim of future violence. Unsurprisingly, teachers who work in districts that have a recent history of gun violence are likelier⁠ than their counterparts in districts that have not experienced recent gun violence to report being afraid that they or their students would be victims of attack or harm at school.^[3]

Part of what likely drives educators’ fear of being attacked or harmed is not just exposure to previous violence but also the threats of violence⁠ that schools regularly receive.^[4] Whether they come from students making threats on social media⁠ or angry parents⁠ responding to decisions about school curriculum or other policies, violent threats to schools are distressingly common.^[5] In our 2025 survey of principals, 43 percent reported at least one threat made against their schools in the 2023–2024 or 2024–2025 school year—most commonly a threat posted to social media. Twenty-eight percent of principals also revealed that they or their staff had personally received direct threats of violence from students or members of the community, whether about decisions related to instruction, academic issues, or other school policies. Both types of threats—those made to the general school community and those made to specific individuals—were most common in middle schools.

Clearly, these threats are correlated with rises in fear of violence among educators (see Figure 2). For example, principals who reported that staff in their schools had received direct threats were likelier to report being concerned about becoming a victim of violence at school. Principals in schools that received threats—whether generic ones made against the school on social media or direct ones against school personnel—were especially likely to report concern that their students would be attacked or harmed.

• Direct threats made to school staff
  • Afraid for self:
    • No (reference group): 11%
    • Yes: 26%*
  • Afraid for students:
    • No (reference group): 38%
    • Yes: 66%*
• General threats made on social media
  • Afraid for self:
    • No (reference group): 14%
    • Yes: 18%
  • Afraid for students:
    • No (reference group): 43%
    • Yes: 56%*

NOTE: This figure depicts response data from the following survey questions administered to school principals in the RAND American School Leader Panel in October 2024: “Are you afraid of being the victim of attack or harm at your school?” “Are you afraid that students at your school will be the victims of attack or harm?” “Have you, other administrators at your school, and/or teachers in your school received direct threats of violence from students or members of the community regarding decisions about instruction, academic issues, or other school policies?” and “At any point over the last school year (2023–2024) and/or in this school year (2024–2025), has your school experienced any of the following types of threatening incidents? A threat of violence against your school posted to social media” (n = 970). An asterisk (*) indicates that the percentage of principals who indicated being afraid for themselves or their students in schools that did receive threats is statistically significantly different from the percentage of principals who responded similarly in schools that did not receive threats.

Although preventing violence should be schools’ first priority, responding to educators’ and students’ fears of violence is a related but distinct need. Staff need to feel safe at school to be effective educators, and students need to feel safe at school to learn and succeed. Although many strategies exist to protect schools, our survey data suggest that some of the strategies most commonly employed by schools—including physical security measures and active-shooter drills—are only somewhat effective when it comes to addressing educators’ fear of being victims of violence.

In our surveys of both principals and teachers, we have asked about the various physical school safety measures in place at their schools. Most educators report that their schools are using a wide variety of measures, such as reinforced doors, cameras, and security staff (including school law enforcement). Positively, most educators “feel good” about the security measures in place at their campuses. For example, the majority of both teachers (54 percent) and principals (75 percent) reported that safety and security measures at their schools have a positive effect on school climate.

Our survey results suggest that these safety measures might have some impact on educators’ fear of violence but that the effect is limited and mixed. In our survey of principals, for instance, we did not identify a significant relationship between the presence of security measures and principals’ fear of violence—that is, principals in schools with tighter security were no more or less likely to report being afraid than those in less hardened schools. However, teachers’ fears that they or their students could be attacked or harmed at school did decline as their schools implemented increasing numbers of security measures.

Beyond physical security measures and the presence of law enforcement, active-shooter drills⁠ are intentionally designed to help prepare educators to respond in the event of a violent incident.^[6] Theoretically, these drills might help educators (and their students) feel safer because they prepare them better for such events. However, relatively few teachers (20 percent) who took our fall 2024 survey said that active-shooter drills made them feel safer at school. Only a few more (24 percent) said that they thought drills made students feel safer at school. Educators indicated that drills can actually make things worse for some students: More than one-quarter of teachers (29 percent) and a similar proportion of principals (32 percent) indicated that they were aware of students experiencing trauma or heightened anxiety after such drills.

Our survey data indicate that fear of school violence is a real problem in U.S. schools and a distinct one from the risk of actually experiencing violence. Given how important it is for students and staff to feel safe at school, finding ways to address that fear is of utmost importance. RAND survey data suggest that the usual tools that schools use for school safety—security measures (e.g., locks and cameras), security staff (e.g., school police), and safety drills—might not be as effective as one would like in addressing educators’ fear of school violence. Schools need additional strategies and tools to ensure the well-being of their students and the educators on whom communities rely to care for their children.

What these findings ultimately highlight is the need to broaden the approach to school safety beyond just relying on physical security measures and preparedness drills. Addressing fear requires not only preventing violence but also fostering a sense of psychological safety and trust within school communities. Fostering this sense of safety and trust could mean investing in more mental health supports for staff and students, improving communication and transparency around safety incidents, and providing training in trauma-informed practices. These measures themselves can also help prevent violence—specifically, by increasing the chance that students will report concerns⁠ about peer behavior that could be an early warning sign of future violence.^[7] Policymakers and school leaders should consider engaging educators directly in the design of safety policies and ensuring that their concerns and experiences shape new interventions. Ultimately, reducing fear in schools will likely require a combination of physical, social, and emotional strategies—grounded in evidence and responsive to the realities that educators and students face every day.

Acknowledgments

We are extremely grateful to the educators who have agreed to participate in the panels. Their time and willingness to share their experiences are invaluable for this effort and for helping us understand how to better support their hard work in schools. We thank Lisa Wagner and Brian Kim for assisting with survey management; Gerald P. Hunter and Ruolin Lu for data management; and Tim R. Colvin, Roberto Guevara, and Julie Newell for programming the survey. Thanks also go to Claude Messan Setodji and Dorothy Seaman for producing the sampling and weighting for these analyses. We greatly appreciate the administrative support provided by Tina Petrossian and AEP management provided by David Grant. We also thank Meagan E. Cahill and Aaron C. Davenport for their review and feedback, which helped improve our work. Finally, we are grateful for Cindy Lyons’ efforts in overseeing the publication of this report.

Notes

1. Chip Grabow and Lisa Rose, “The US Has Had 57 Times as Many School Shootings as the Other Major Industrialized Nations Combined,” CNN, May 21, 2018, https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/21/us/school-shooting-us-versus-world-trnd. Return to content ⤴
2. The American Educator Panels (AEP) are nationally representative samples of teachers, school leaders, and district leaders across the country. The panels are a proud member of the American Association for Public Opinion Research’s Transparency Initiative. Return to content ⤴
3. Pauline Moore, Melissa Kay Diliberti, and Brian A. Jackson, Teachers’ Experiences with School Violence and Lockdown Drills: Findings from a 2023 American Teacher Panel Survey, Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center operated by the RAND Corporation, RR-A1077-6, 2024, https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA1077-6.html. Return to content ⤴
4. Ali Rogin and Satvi Sunkara, “How Schools and Law Enforcement Are Navigating a Spike in Violent Threats,” PBS Newshour, November 9, 2024, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-schools-and-law-enforcement-are-navigating-a-spike-in-violent-threats. Return to content ⤴
5. Pauline Moore, Brian A. Jackson, Jennifer T. Leschitz, Nazia Wolters, Thomas Goode, Melissa Kay Diliberti, and Phoebe Felicia Pham, Developing Practical Responses to Social Media Threats Against K–12 Schools: An Overview of Trends, Challenges, and Current Approaches, Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center operated by the RAND Corporation, RR-A1077-5, 2024, https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA1077-5.html.
   American Psychological Association, “Violence, Aggression Against Educators Grew Post-Pandemic,” press release, May 30, 2024, https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2024/05/violence-against-educators-post-pandemic. Return to content ⤴
6. Pauline Moore, Melissa Kay Diliberti, and Brian A. Jackson, Teachers’ Experiences with School Violence and Lockdown Drills: Findings from a 2023 American Teacher Panel Survey, Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center operated by the RAND Corporation, RR-A1077-6, 2024, https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA1077-6.html. Return to content ⤴
7. Pauline Moore, Jennifer T. Leschitz, Brian A. Jackson, Catherine H. Augustine, Andrea Phillips, and Elizabeth D. Steiner, Supporting Threat Reporting to Strengthen School Safety: Findings from the Literature and Interviews with Stakeholders Across the K–12 School Community, Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center operated by the RAND Corporation, RR-A1077-3, 2024, https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA1077-3.html. Return to content ⤴

Topics

• Elementary Education
• School Safety
• Students
• Title I (Elementary and Secondary Education Act)