Overall, there has been limited guidance from the federal government on how K-12 schools should implement their policies and practices to comply with Title IX and special education law. The lack of clear directives leaves K-12 schools with the task of identifying policies and processes that are the best practices in navigating the rights afforded…

The purpose of this study was to compare the Title IX guidance from the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights from the 2011 "Dear Colleague" letter and the 2020 "Final Rule," and then to interview university Title IX coordinators about their experiences responding to the substantial changes under each…

Schools are required to have written policies regarding the handling of sexual misconduct cases, but little research has examined the content of these policies. This study explored the content of Title IX sexual misconduct policies for 200 universities in the U.S. specifically assessing if the content is in line with the Title IX regulations set…

The national policy context regarding transgender students' rights has been volatile in recent years. New York State's Department of Education has a transgender policy in place, yet local school districts around New York State do not. This qualitative case study examined how district and school staff perceived the knowledge and effectiveness of…

Landmark research from before the 2010s shows that college women rarely held institutions responsible for allowing rape-prone party contexts to persist and failing to support survivors. Yet the college landscape has changed profoundly since these studies were published, with prominent anti-rape campaigns and new guidelines to Title IX policy. To…

As policy debates concerning LGBTQ+ students and staff continue across the American education system, there is not a clear description of the prevalence of local policy protections, even in states with legislative mandates, nor a strong understanding of how to expand reform initiatives. After conducting a document analysis of policies with a…

Transgender and nonbinary (collectively referred to here as "trans") students are ill-served by most school environments. They experience challenges trying to navigate institutions that, at best, are poorly designed to support them and that often work against them. Although some districts and states have developed laws and policies to…

MAEC's Title IX 2020 Regulations Series examines the impact of the recently-released Final Rule, which went into effect August 14, 2020. The Final Rule determines how schools navigate incidents of sexual harassment. The first document in our series, "Title IX Coordinator Roles and Responsibilities," describes the updated roles and…

Background: Over the past decade, courts increasingly have considered cases that involve clashes between public, secular private, and religious institutions in education. Such clashes appear to have intensified as recently as the 2019-2020 Supreme Court term, and the confirmation of Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett to the Court in 2020 suggests…

Education is not a one-size-fits-all endeavor. When looking at preschool or K-12 education, having a diversity of options is essential. Yet there continue to be calls for the federal government to pass a universal preschool program like the one in President Biden's Build Back Better Act. The author states that this is clearly unconstitutional: the…

The purpose of this "Equity by Design" brief is to aid administrators in protecting sexual and gender minority students from discrimination and harassment. Specifically, this Brief presents Title IX's conceptualizations of sex and harassment to identify who is protected, and from what. Further, it discusses how to navigate backlash…

MAEC's Title IX 2020 Regulations Series examines the impact of the recently-released Final Rule, which went into effect August 14, 2020. The Final Rule determines how schools navigate incidents of sexual harassment. This document, the second in our series, compares Title IX then (the Patsy Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act, 1972) and Title…

This literature review includes a broad review of LGBTQ+ civil rights law and evolving cases, population research and limitations of data collection, student survey findings on school climate and safety, education best practices at the classroom, district and state level, and student perspectives from youth across the country, including members of…

Shifts in the visibility and recognition of LGBTQ+ identity have been accompanied by an evolution in understanding how educational policies, curricula, and environments impact well-being, health, and academic success. Since 2015, landmark decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court recognizing same-sex marriage and expansively defining sex under…

Earning a college degree has long been critical to unlocking many high-paying jobs -- and, as a result, to economic mobility and security. Increasingly, however, the traditional "norm" of a college student--one who enrolls straight out of high school, receives some support from their parents, lives on campus, and does not have…