Educator Sexual Misconduct in U.S. Schools: 12 Years of Arrest Data and Trends
Since January 2014, the National Center to Stop Educator Sexual Misconduct (NC S.E.S.A.M.E), with guidance from Dr. Billie-Jo Grant, has maintained a database of news reports involving alleged sexual misconduct by school employees against students.
Cases are identified through Google Alerts, which scans online news coverage each day for keywords such as “teacher arrested,” “sexual misconduct,” and “sexual assault.” Relevant articles are then reviewed and entered into the database.
Researchers record key details from each report, including information about the accused employee, the victim, and the school or district involved. Each case is coded so trends and patterns can be analyzed over time.
This process has created a decade-long record of K–12 educator sexual misconduct cases reported in the media, helping researchers, journalists, and policymakers better understand the scope of the problem.
This dataset provides one of the most accessible national snapshots of how these cases appear in the public record.
Why this Data Matters
The United States does not have a reliable national database tracking sexual misconduct by school employees.
Federal agencies do not systematically collect this information.
The U.S. Department of Education does not track nationwide cases of educator sexual misconduct, and the Department of Justice does not categorize crimes based on whether the perpetrator was a teacher or school employee.
As a result, no one knows the true scope of the problem.
In the absence of official tracking, researchers and advocates often rely on publicly reported cases. Tools like Google Alerts make it possible to monitor news reports of arrests involving school employees across the country.
While this approach does not capture every case, it provides a real-time window into incidents that reach the public record. Over time, these reports can reveal patterns, identify risk factors, and help inform prevention and policy discussions.
Until consistent national data collection exists, these public reports remain one of the few ways to understand how often this abuse is occurring—and where stronger protections may be needed
Examine Victim and Offender Characteristics
Understand Prevalence and Trends
Inform Journalists and News Articles
Inform Lawmakers for Legislative Reform
What This Data Shows — and What It Doesn’t
This dataset tracks news-reported arrests of school employees for sexual misconduct involving students.
It does not represent the full scope of abuse, which is widely understood to be underreported. Instead, it provides a publicly observable sample of cases that can help reveal patterns and inform prevention efforts.
How Many Teachers Were Arrested in the Past 11 Years?
From 2014 - 2025, there were 4,917 published cases of school employee sexual misconduct in the U.S.
Texas, California, and Florida have the highest number of incidents
Google Alerts capture only the tip of the iceberg, as they reflect cases that result in arrest or public reporting to law enforcement, while many incidents are handled internally by schools and never become public.
Has the number of cases gone down?
No. It keeps happening.
Offenders
21% (n=901) had multiple victims
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Victims
Victim Characteristics
Offender Characteristics
84 Were "Teachers of the Year"
Data Requests
Researchers, journalists, policymakers, and advocates may request data from the NCSESAME educator sexual misconduct media database for specific states, regions, or time periods.
To submit a request, please email info@ncsesame.org and include the geographic area and date range you are interested in. When available, we will provide an export of the relevant dataset.
If the data is used in reporting, research, or publications, please include the following citation:
Grant, B. (2014–2026). Google Alerts for Teachers Arrested for Sexual Misconduct of K-12 Students. National Center to Stop Educator Sexual Abuse, Misconduct and Exploitation (S.E.S.A.M.E.). www.ncsesame.org
Behind every data point is a child whose story deserves to be counted.
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