Dive Brief:
- While the topic of sexual assault has been on the minds of college administrators nationwide in recent years, cases of sexual harassment are too often ignored with students in K-12 schools, and many of them grow up to be part of the problem on college campuses.
- EdSource reports troubling attitudes about gender and power often go unchecked in K-12 schools, perhaps most importantly in middle school, when students jockey for their social positions and when bullying can be a predictor of later sexual harassment.
- Title IX enforcement is less stringent in K-12 schools, and many districts do not have Title IX coordinators, as federal law requires, but a new sexual health education law in California may help address the problem by teaching students about sexual harassment and assault, healthy relationships and positive gender identity.
Dive Insight:
The California legislature has been particularly active when it comes to addressing the problem of sexual harassment and assault. The state’s “yes means yes” law requires college students, and those high school students who have to take health classes to graduate, to learn about affirmative consent. While prior lessons in sex education taught individuals to stop if their partners said no, the newer law flips the script, requiring partners to wait before initiating any level of sexual activity until they get a verbal cue to continue.
The Civil Rights Data Collection survey requires schools to report incidents of sexual harassment. However, an overwhelming portion of schools report zero incidents — a striking number when contrasted with the portion of students who say they have experienced sexual harassment. While districts with higher incident numbers may look bad compared to their peer schools, this more often reflects a positive culture where reporting is encouraged. In many districts, students don’t know how or where to report, and in addition to being a violation of Title IX, it creates a more difficult learning environment for students.