Analyzing data from the U.S. Department of Education, the American Association of University Women has found that 14 of the 20 largest school districts in the nation reported no incidences of bullying or harassment in 2009-10.
The group says that the districts reported no allegations of sexual harassment, no disciplinary actions as a result of bullying or harassment on the basis of sex, and no students who reported being bullied or harassed on the basis of sex.
Another AAUW report notes that nearly half of all surveyed students in middle and high school said that they had been harassed during the 2010-11 school year.
The Civil Rights Data Collection, conducted about every two years by the Education Department’s office for civil rights, most recently asked districts for information about the 2009-10 school year. The data include 7,000 school districts, enrolling about 85 percent of the country’s public school students. The collection was the largest to date, and districts had never been asked questions about bullying and harassment before.