While we only track incidents resulting in at least one bullet wound, total injuries are not necessarily the result of gunfire. Injuries include those reported by police and news media.

that occur while school is in session or during a school-sponsored event.

that happen on K-12 school property or on a school bus.

where any individual, other than the suspect or perpetrator, has a bullet wound resulting from the incident.

We hope only to provide reliable information to help inform discussions, debates, and paths forward until such reports are deemed unnecessary. There is no single right way of calculating numbers like this, and the human toll in the immediate aftermath and long term are impossible to measure. With this tracker, Education Week looks to provide a clear accounting of K-12 school shootings. Those statistics are used to fuel ongoing debates about gun control, arming teachers, and school security. In the emotionally charged aftermath of school shootings, politicians, activists, news media, and ordinary citizens often cite statistics that can present a distorted view of how many of these incidents occur. Contact InformationДЇor media or research inquiries about this data, contact. We are no longer tracking that information. Injuries & DeathsДЄ previous version of this table included the status of the suspect. Police said the suspect opened fire from the street when the security guard went to open the school doors at dismissal. 12, a female student and a male security guard were shot and injured at a Chicago high school. More information about this tracker and our methodology is below. In 2021, we continue this heartbreaking ,вЂЇbut important work. (Schools, in general, remain among the safest places for children to be and shootings in schools are relatively rare.) Similarly, we do not know whether, despite our 2020 school shooting figures, some students and staff were potentially more at risk of gun violence during the pandemic: Tracking off-campus shootings was beyond the scope of this project.

HereвЂ™s a good parallel: Referrals to child protective services agencies fell in 2020 but that does not mean fewer children were being hurt it reflects that schools are a main locus for reporting potential abuse. But those using this data should note that it should not be interpreted to mean that schools were вЂњsafer.вЂќ Rather, the definition of school safety has shifted as schooling entered the home in a way it never had before. That falloff in numbers is probably due to the shift to remote learning for nearly all schools for part or all of 2020. The 2020 figure, with 10 shootings, was significantly lower than 20, which each had 24.

The COVID-19 pandemic appears to have interrupted the trend line. There have been 82 school shootings since 2018. There have been 24 school shootings this year, 16 since August 1. To bring context to these debates, Education Week journalists began tracking shootings on K-12 school property that resulted in firearm-related injuries or deaths. School shootings-terrifying to students, educators, parents, and communities-always reignite polarizing debates about gun rights and school safety.

Where was this taken