In Context

Across the country, bullying is receiving increased attention in school board meetings, in the media, and in state legislatures. Between 1999 and 2001, at least eight states considered and/or adopted legislation directing schools to develop anti-bullying policies or programs (Zehr, 2001). In some states, statewide bullying programs are already in place, while in other states, such as Michigan, Colorado, and Oregon, schools are scrambling to build programs and comply with new laws.

To be sure, bullying is not a new phenomenon. What is new is the growing awareness that bullying has serious consequences for both students and schools. According to Banks (2000), bullying behavior contributes to lower attendance rates, lower student achievement, low self-esteem, and depression, as well as higher rates of both juvenile and adult crime. Consider the following statistics:

• 160,000 students miss school every day due to fear of attack or intimidation by a bully (Fried & Fried, 1996); 7 percent of eighth-graders stay home at least once a month because of bullies (Banks, 2000)

• Approximately 20 percent of students are scared throughout much of the school day (Garrity, et al., 1997)

• 14 percent of eighth- through 12th-graders and 22 percent of fourth- through eighth-graders surveyed reported that “bullying diminished their ability to learn in school” (Hoover & Oliver, 1996, p. 10)

• 10 percent of students who drop out of school do so because of repeated bullying (Weinhold & Weinhold, 1998)

• “Bullies identified by age eight are six times more likely to be convicted of a crime by age 24 and five times more likely than non-bullies to end up with serious criminal records by the age of 30” (Maine Project Against Bullying, 2000); 60 percent of students characterized as bullies in grades 6-9 had at least one criminal conviction by age 24 (Banks, 2000)

• Roughly two-thirds of school shooters had “felt persecuted, bullied, threatened, attacked, or injured by others. …a number of the teenagers had suffered sustained, severe bullying and harassment” (Bowman, 2001)

While school shootings and violent retaliations to bullying remain rare, these incidents have forced educators, parents, and legislators to take a more serious look at bullying behavior and the impact it has on both students and the school environment. The following sections look more closely at bullying and at what we can do to limit the level of harassment, intimidation, and aggression that students routinely witness and experience at school.