What is it about?
School districts are required to appoint someone in the role of "Title IX coordinator." These administrators are responsible for ensuring school districts comply with federal regulations regarding "sex-based" discrimination in any educational institution receiving federal funds. We found that many districts are not fully supporting the implementation of this law and many Title IX coordinators are unaware or underprepared to execute their duties effectively.
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Why is it important?
As the public discourse around sexual misconduct, harassment, and assault are more prevalent than ever, students experiencing a hostile environment at school should be able to turn to professionals in their school districts for support and relief. Unfortunately, many school districts are not adequately educating their communities about these resources nor are they providing support (time, funding, resources) to ensure that Title IX coordinators can work in proactive ways. Many coordinators reported only responding to complaints and saw their role as merely a compliance duty and ignored education and prevention efforts.
Perspectives
In order to keep students safe and protect some of the most marginalized and vulnerable students in our schools (girls, LGBTQ youth, survivors of sexual assault, gender nonconforming boys, nonbinary youth, etc.) we need to do better in enforcing the spirit and the letter of Title IX in K-12 schools.
Elizabeth Meyer
University of Colorado Boulder
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Addressing sex discrimination with Title IX coordinators in the #MeToo era, Phi Delta Kappan, September 2018, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/0031721718803562.
You can read the full text:
Resources
Psychology Today blog: Gender and Education
This blog post talks about Title IX research in the context of the reporting of hundreds of cases of sexual assault in Chicago Public Schools
Dr. Meyer on Title IX Coordinators [video]
This video summarizes the findings of a research study based on interviews with Title IX coordinators that has been accepted for publication in the Educational Policy Analysis Archives journal.
title ix coordinators as street-level bureaucrats in u.s. schools: challenges addressing sex discrimination in the #metoo era
This is the full academic article that presents the research that informed the PDK article.
Contributors
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