"No Poster Child": Transitioning Genders in a Rural Elementary School

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 72
  In Roundtable Session: Queering the Possibilities and Promises of Elementary Education

Abstract

This research contributes to a growing body of scholarship on the experiences of transgender and gender-fluid students in elementary school spaces by exploring a single rural school district’s process for accommodating and including a transgender child. In this paper, we explore multiple educators’ stories of working with a transgender student and their perspectives on facilitating a “successful” gender transition within an public elementary school context. This case study lends insight to how educators navigate tensions between transgender stigma and their professional obligations to secure safety and provide optimal learning environments for all students. School leaders stressed an expectation for “kindness” from students and teachers, and resisted addressing the role of binary gender in school life and curricula.

Authors

• Melissa J. Smith, University of Central Arkansas

• Elizabethe Payne, Queering Education Research Institute (QuERI)