Abuse inside our schools: The findings

Major findings of AP's investigation

• A total of 2,570 educators nationwide were punished for sexual misconduct from 2001 to 2005, representing about a quarter of all educator misconduct cases in that time period.

• The total number of times an action was taken against a teacher's license for sexual misconduct was 2,625 (more than 50 teachers lost licenses in more than one state). Licenses were revoked in 1,636 of the cases, surrendered in 440 cases, suspended in 376 cases, and denied in 108 cases. Other punishments were handed out in the remainder of the cases.

• Students were clearly identified as victims in at least 1,467 of the sexual misconduct cases. The victim was a young person, a category including students, unidentified youths, family members and neighbors, in at least 1,801 of the cases.

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bull; Educators made physical contact in at least 1,297, or 72 percent, of the cases in which the victims were youths. The remainder were cases that did not involve physical contact, including verbal sexual harassment and other offenses.

bull; There were criminal convictions in at least 1,390, or 53 percent, of the cases.

bull; Nearly nine out of 10 of the educators punished for sexual misconduct were male.

bull; At least 446 of the cases that the AP found involved educators who had multiple victims.