Implementation of LGBT-Inclusive Antibullying Law: What's Being Done in Schools?

• In Event: 79.050 - MTCC Roundtable Session 36
  In Roundtable Session: 79.050-3 - Policy, Praxis, and the Education Rights of LGBTQIA Students

Abstract

This research explores implementation of the Dignity for All Students Act, New York’s anti-harassment law, with attention to the relationships between state policy and improving schooling situations for LGBTQ youth. We examined the perspectives of a statewide sample of Dignity Act Coordinators (individuals designated in each school district to lead DASA implementation efforts) to learn how schools are interpreting and executing the work of meeting expectations of a law that calls for both effective violence intervention and proactive efforts to build inclusive school culture and address discrimination. This paper offers a critique of policy implementation approaches that prioritize procedure over attention to the experiences of marginalized student populations enumerated in the law and suggestions for a move toward proactive approaches.

Authors

• Elizabethe Payne, Queering Education Research Institute (QuERI)

• Melissa J. Smith, University of Central Arkansas