GLSEN Research 101: Where Do I Start?
GLSEN has been conducting groundbreaking research on LGBT issues in K-12 education since 1999. Over these years, we’ve provided advocates and scholars with many publications about the experiences of students, educators, and parents. With so much information, how do you know where to start?
It’s easy to find our publications at glsen.org/research! Research that we publish ourselves is available to download for free. Here’s an overview of the reports and briefs you’ll find:
The National School Climate Survey
- Conducted every two years, it’s the only national survey of LGBT secondary student experiences at school.
- The full report contains detailed information about LGBT student experiences. Executive summaries are available in both English and Spanish.
- We’ve published reports and briefs on a wide range of topics related to creating safe and supportive schools, including: LGBT student experiences online; safety and diversity in elementary schools; students’ and teachers’ perspectives on school safety; LGBT parents’ experiences with schools; what school is like for specific populations like transgender youth and youth of color; the impact of GSAs; and much more.
- Tip: Use the search box on the left side of the page to find the research on the topic you’re looking for!
- Our State Snapshots pull state-level findings from the most recent National School Climate Survey to provide information about what school is like for LGBT youth in dozens of different states.
- If there’s no State Snapshot available for your state, or if you would like to examine secondary students’ experiences in your school or community, you can conduct your own research with our Local School Climate Survey. The tool makes selected questions from The National School Climate Survey available for advocates to administer in their local communities.
- What are effective strategies for improving school climate? Our evaluation reports examine the impact of programs and resources recommended by GLSEN, and also discuss what safe schools and LGBT advocates can learn from our efforts.
- Researchers at GLSEN also publish our findings in peer-reviewed journals and in books, where we often take a more in-depth, technical approach to our research.
- Although we are unable to make many articles and book chapters available for free, we do provide links to where you may find the publications.
- Our webinar recordings cover a variety of topics including overviews of major reports like the National School Climate Survey or our report on elementary schools, and also dive into more-specific topics like gender identity and expression at school.
- Webinars are about 45-60 minutes, and can be great to watch as part of GSA meetings or for educators looking for more information on each topic.
Now that you know what’s already available, why not make sure you’re the first to know what’s next from GLSEN's Research Department? Click here to sign up for our email list and receive updates when we release new research findings or hosts events like webinars. You can also follow us on Twitter: @GLSENResearch.