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Does a Decade of School Administrator Support for Educator Training on Students’ Sexual and Gender Identity Make a Difference for Students’ Victimization and Perceptions of School Climate?

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Abstract

Professional development training for school personnel on issues related to sexual and gender identity (i.e., SOGI training) is a school strategy designed to prevent health and educational disparities for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth at school. Yet we know surprisingly little about how the presence of this practice at school affects students’ experience. This study explores whether students’ experiences of victimization and school climate vary as a function of school administrator support for SOGI training at two time points (2004 and 2014). We combined multiple independent databases: students’ reports on victimization and school climate in 2013–2015 (n = 55,158), and school (n = 152) and school district data (n = 67) on support for SOGI training in 2004 and 2014. More positive school climates were found in schools with support for SOGI training in 2004 only and both 2004 and 2014 compared to schools with SOGI training support in 2014 only. In schools with support for SOGI training in both 2004 and 2014, LGBT students reported the lowest rates of victimization. Findings from this study provide evidence that support for SOGI training by school administration is an effective way to improve school contexts for LGBT and all students. School administrators who aim to reduce victimization disparities for LGBT students and improve school climates should support the implementation of SOGI training, and sustain such training over time.

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Acknowledgements

The California Healthy Kids Survey was developed by WestEd under contract with the California Department of Education. This SSPS was developed by the California Safe Schools Coalition with a grant from the California Endowment. The authors acknowledge generous support from the Communities for Just Schools Fund, and for Russell from the Priscilla Pond Flawn Endowment at the University of Texas at Austin.

Funding

This work was supported by the Research Foundation—Flanders (FWO) [grant number 12V8120N]. This study was also made possible with funding from two grants awarded to the Population Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin (P2CHD042849 and T32HD007081) by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Ghent University, Korte Meer 5, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Salvatore Ioverno

  2. Population Research Center, Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, University of Texas At Austin, Austin, TX, USA

    Meg D. Bishop & Stephen T. Russell

Authors
  1. Salvatore Ioverno
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  2. Meg D. Bishop
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  3. Stephen T. Russell
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Correspondence to Salvatore Ioverno.

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Ethics Approval

This study was approved by the University of Texas at Austin Review Board. IRB Amendment Approval for Protocol Number 2017–04-0070. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Consent to Participate

In accordance with Education Code 501938(b), and with school board policy, passive consent was used for the administration of the CHKS surveys. Parents or guardians were notified, in writing, at the beginning of the school year about the survey, and allowed to review the survey and decline their child’s participation.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Ioverno, S., Bishop, M.D. & Russell, S.T. Does a Decade of School Administrator Support for Educator Training on Students’ Sexual and Gender Identity Make a Difference for Students’ Victimization and Perceptions of School Climate?. Prev Sci 23, 108–118 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-021-01276-x

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