This dissertation aims to elucidate that current school-based mental health services need a more LGBTQI+ affirmative stance to counter and disrupt the heteronormativity, homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia that LGBTQI+ students regularly encounter at school. Many LGBTQI+ students continue to be harassed, bullied, and discriminated against;…

Space has been opened to question heteronormativity and to address the assumption that each student in k-12 schools identifies as heterosexual. Is anything happening in this space? What affective behaviors, attitudes and beliefs do teachers who teach LGBTQ+ topics demonstrate? Conversely, what affective behaviors, attitudes and beliefs prevent…

At the heart of the effort to enact and scale up successful school reforms is the need for more robust links between research and practice. One promising approach is design development, a methodology widely used in other fields and only recently adapted to education, which offers a disciplined process for identifying practical problems, assessing…

The purpose of this study was to measure music teachers' attitudes toward transgender individuals and toward school practices that support transgender students. Participants (N = 612) included men and women who teach a variety of music subjects in elementary, middle, and high schools, in urban, suburban, and rural areas. An online questionnaire…

Sexual harassment has long been an unfortunate part of the climate in middle and high schools in the United States. Often considered a kind of bullying, sexual harassment by definition involves sex and gender and therefore warrants separate attention. The legal definition of sexual harassment also differentiates it from bullying. Based on a…

The Day of Silence is the largest single student-led action towards creating safer schools for all, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. From the first-ever Day of Silence at the University of Virginia in 1996, to the organizing efforts in over 8,000 middle schools, high schools, colleges and universities across…

Sexual harassment has long been an unfortunate part of the climate in middle and high schools in the United States. Often considered a kind of bullying, sexual harassment by definition involves sex and gender and therefore warrants separate attention. The legal definition of sexual harassment also differentiates it from bullying. Based on a…

The psychological, social, and emotional needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth often go unmet in schools. These students may be "out and proud" or they may be silent and invisible; either way, providing effective services to them creates unique challenges for professional school counselors. Providing direct services…

Some essential components of "keeping current" with trends and new developments in the school library field for library media specialists includes attending conferences and reading professional literature. Beginning in May 2007, one article on "keeping up" each year has been devoted to summarizing the major themes in conferences and professional…

"Art and Social Justice Education" offers inspiration and tools for educators to craft critical, meaningful, and transformative arts education curriculum and arts integration projects. The images, descriptive texts, essays, and resources are grounded within a clear social justice framework and linked to ideas about culture as commons. Essays and a…