Over the past two decades, there has been rapid growth in understanding of bullying in schools and its many negative effects. The reported incidence of bullying and other school violence has increased over time, and UNESCO recently estimated that 246 million children and adolescents experience violence in and around school every year (UNESCO 2017). Academic research has consistently confirmed that bullying is a global phenomenon affecting students at all levels of social status and academic abilities. The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement's (IEA) flagship Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) is a valuable resource to inform better understanding of bullying trends in general, as well as revealing the relationship between bullying and academic achievement, both within and between countries. The TIMSS study is unique in that over the past 20 years it has administered a bullying scale to 4th and 8th grade students from around the world. The responses that students provided to the TIMSS 2015 student questionnaire provide a unique perspective on bullying around the world. The TIMSS 2015 results clearly show that bullying is not isolated to one country. Rather, bullying is an international phenomenon that spans cultures and economies. TIMSS 2015 provides evidence of a strong international association between bullying and mathematics achievement at the fourth grade. Bullying prevention policies should be considered to ensure a safe learning environment where all students can meet their potential. Scholars and policymakers should work together on this crucial topic to reduce bullying and improve achievement. This simple analysis of the international grade 4 TIMSS results shows that bullying begins at an early age, and achievement gaps between frequently and infrequently bullied students also emerge in the early years of education. Bullying policies also need to begin in the early years. TIMSS provides an important resource for policymakers to monitor both existing and new anti-bullying interventions, and it is a rich resource to learn from others and monitor what works.