Year One Evaluation of the New York City Department of Education &quot;Respect for All&quot; Training Program
Author: Greytak, Emily A.
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Bullying,Sexual Orientation,Homosexuality,Sexual Identity,Educational Environment,Educational Opportunities,Empathy,Consciousness Raising,Program Evaluation,Program Effectiveness,Secondary Schools,Teacher Role,Social Bias,Gender Issues,Access to Information,Language Usage,Beliefs,Communication Skills,Social Support Groups,Intervention,Knowledge Level

The GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network) Research Department conducted an evaluation of the New York City Department of Education's (NYC DOE) &quot;Respect for All&quot; training program for secondary school educators. The two-day training program, which was one component of the NYC DOE's &quot;Respect for All&quot; 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. Compared to before the training, after the training educators demonstrated increased: (1) Knowledge of appropriate terms; (2) Access to LGBTQ-related resources; (3) Awareness of how their own practices might have been harmful to LGBTQ students; (4) Empathy for LGBTQ students; (5) Belief in the importance of intervening in anti-LGBTQ remarks; (6) Communication with students and staff about LGBTQ issues; (7) Engagement in activities to create safer schools for LGBTQ students (i.e., supporting Gay-Straight Alliances, including LGBTQ content in curriculum); and (8) Frequency of intervention in anti-LGBTQ name-calling, bullying, and harassment. In addition, compared to educators who had not yet participated in the training, those who had participated in the training indicated higher levels of: (1) Knowledge of appropriate terms; (2) Access to LGBTQ-related resources; (3) Empathy for LGBTQ students; (4) Communication with students and staff about LGBTQ issues; and (5) Engagement in activities to create safer schools for LGBTQ students. Findings from the Year One evaluation demonstrate that this training program is an effective means for developing the competency of educators to address bias-based bullying and harassment, and to create safer school environments for LGBTQ students. The findings suggest that providing such training to all school staff, including administrators, would result in an even stronger effect on the school environment. Furthermore, ensuring sufficient opportunities for developing educators' skills in intervening in anti-LGBTQ behaviors could enhance the effectiveness of trainings. To maintain the benefits of training, staff should receive continued and advanced professional development opportunities related to supporting LGBTQ students and combating bias-based bullying and harassment. (Contains 1 figure, 5 tables and 8 footnotes.)