The GLSEN Research Department conducted an evaluation of the New York City Department of Education's (NYC DOE) Respect for All training program for secondary school educators. The two-day training program, which was one component of the NYC DOE's Respect for All initiative, was implemented so that every secondary school in the district had at least one staff member who could support lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) students and combat all forms of bias-based bullying and harassment, particularly bias based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression.
In order to evaluate Year One of the training program, GLSEN surveyed 813 educators who participated in the training at three times -- before the training, six weeks after, and six months after. Training participants were also compared to educators who had not yet completed the training. Focus groups were conducted in order to gain a greater, in-depth understanding of participants' experiences in the training. Key findings are listed below.
Compared to before the training, after the training educators demonstrated increased:
- Knowledge of appropriate terms;
- Access to LGBTQ-related resources;
- Awareness of how their own practices might have been harmful to LGBTQ students;
- Empathy for LGBTQ students;
- Belief in the importance of intervening in anti-LGBTQ remarks;
- Communication with students and staff about LGBTQ issues;
- Engagement in activities to create safer schools for LGBTQ students (i.e., supporting Gay-Straight Alliances, including LGBTQ content in curriculum); and
- Frequency of intervention in anti-LGBTQ name-calling, bullying, and harassment.
- Knowledge of appropriate terms;
- Access to LGBTQ-related resources;
- Empathy for LGBTQ students;
- Communication with students and staff about LGBTQ issues; and
- Engagement in activities to create safer schools for LGBTQ students.
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- Copyright 2010 Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network.
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