What the Data Shows About School Bullying — and Why Some Families Are Looking at Alternatives

Newly compiled federal survey data confirm what many parents, teachers, and students have long suspected: bullying remains a persistent and, in some respects, worsening problem in American schools. According to the CDC's Youth Risk Behavior Survey, roughly 19% of high school students reported being bullied on school property in the past year — up from 15% just two years earlier. Because fewer than half of bullied students tell a school adult, researchers note the true figure is likely higher.

The Numbers Behind the Headlines

• Nationally, about 19.2% of students ages 12–18 experienced bullying during the 2021–2022 school year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and Bureau of Justice Statistics.
• Bullying is far more common in middle school than high school — NCES data show a prevalence of roughly 26% in grades 6–8 compared to about 15–16% in grades 9–12.
• Cyberbullying has grown sharply. The Cyberbullying Research Center's 2025 national survey found that 58% of middle and high schoolers report being cyberbullied at some point in their lives, and 33% in just the past 30 days — the highest rates the center has recorded in nearly two decades of tracking.
• Verbal bullying remains the most common form, affecting roughly 38% of students, followed by rumor-spreading, exclusion, and physical bullying.
• Certain groups face disproportionate risk: LGBTQ+ students are roughly 2.5 times more likely to be bullied than their peers, and girls report higher rates of rumor-spreading and exclusion, while boys report higher rates of physical bullying.
• The mental health toll is steep. Bullied students are 2 to 9 times more likely to report suicidal ideation than their non-bullied peers. Academic performance also suffers — persistently bullied students post GPAs roughly half a point lower on average and miss significantly more school days per year than their peers.

A Problem Schools Are Still Working to Solve

Experts point to a mix of strategies with the strongest evidence behind them: school-wide programs that involve every adult in the building, trusted and anonymous reporting systems, and "bystander" training aimed at the roughly 80% of students who witness bullying but don’t intervene. Schools with clearly enforced anti-bullying policies report meaningfully fewer incidents than those without.

Still, for some families, the data are prompting a more immediate response: exploring options outside the traditional classroom while a school works through longer-term fixes. "We talk to parents almost every week who didn’t set out to homeschool — they’re just trying to get their child out of a bad situation while it gets sorted out," said a spokesperson for Homeschool Owl. "Sometimes that’s a short break, sometimes it turns into something longer-term. Either way, families usually feel like they’re figuring it out alone, and that’s the gap we’re trying to close."

Whatever path families choose, researchers agree on one point: early intervention, consistent reporting, and honest conversations between kids and trusted adults remain the most effective tools for reducing harm.