Who did it?
GLSEN's Back to School Campaign was (BTS) was originally conceived in 1995 as an annual grass-roots education and advocacy effort in which lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) adults would write to their former schools and use their own experiences there to help school staff understand the impact of homophobia on young people. In 1997, GLSEN released its first "Report Cards," identifying school districts that fail to protect students and teachers from harassment and discrimination. In 1998, GLSEN issued "Report Cards" for 42 of the largest districts in the country.
Who’s in it?
In 1999, 50 districts school districts were chosen to be part of the Back-to-School Campaign, with one district representing each state. Because the 1998 Campaign focused on some of the nation’s largest school districts, GLSEN decided to focus the 1999 Campaign on suburban, rural or small town districts. Eight were chosen because of newsworthy events related to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues that had occurred in the districts over the last two years. The remaining 42 were randomly selected from the general database of public school districts provided by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).
Each school district was rated on six dimensions of protective and inclusionary measures related to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues:
Protecting students from discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Protecting staff from discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Addressing name-calling and harassment based on real or perceived sexual orientation in its Safe School Plan.
Support for curricula mentioning sexual orientation.
Support for professional development opportunities addressing sexual orientation and/or gender identity.
Support for the formation of Gay/Straight Student Alliances and other in-school support networks whose goal is to address homophobia and heterosexism in the school.
What did they say?
The findings include only the 45 districts that provided GLSEN with information. The five districts that received Incompletes were excluded.
The majority of school districts received failing grades (69%).
Of the six protective and inclusionary measures, school districts most commonly demonstrated:
-Support for the formation of in-school support networks whose goal is to address homophobia and heterosexism in the school (35.6% of all districts).
-Support for curricula mentioning sexual orientation (31.1% of all districts).
-School districts were least likely to have written statement addressing name-calling and harassment based on real or perceived sexual orientation in its Safe School Plan (only 6.7% of all districts).
There were significant regional differences:
- Northeastern districts had a C+ average.
- Midwestern districts had a D average.
- Southern and Western states had an F average.
Urban school districts may fair better with protective and inclusionary measures regarding sexual orientation. 69% of the non-urban districts reviewed this year failed compared to 39% of the urban districts from 1998.
Caution!
Not all of the school districts reviewed for the 1999 Back to School Campaign were chosen at random. Also, only one district was chosen in each state. Thus, the results cannot be generalized to the entire country. It is also important to note that the grade for each state reflects only the single school district reviewed in that state. For example, if a school district received an "F," the state received an "F." That school district that failed may or may not be typical of all the other school districts in the state.
Where can I find out more?
You may contact:
GLSEN's Communications Department at
212-727-0135
