Based on data from the Safe School Study conducted by the National Institute of Education, this report focuses on how students are affected by their perceptions of danger or threatening situations at school. A review of major research studies on student fear provides the theoretical framework for a discussion of the most probable victims of fear, the conditions or events to which fear is related, and the side-effects of fear. Fearful students are more likely to have few friends, less parental support, lower grades, and a lower self-perception of their reading ability than unfearful students. Four primary factors influencing a student's level of fear in school are the student's grade level, the location of the school, recent victimization of the pupil while at school, and crime in the immediate neighborhood. Apprehensiveness among students reduces concentration on assigned tasks and creates an atmosphere of mistrust. A crime reduction program or an improvement program in education, public relations, and school spirit can help to reduce fear. Suggestions for further research include use of interviews and observations to enrich the data base, refinement of the measures of apprehensiveness, delineation of antecedents and consequences of fear, and the study of schools' responses to climates of fear. (Author/WD)