Dear Friends,
On September 14, we released the most recent National School Climate Survey, the sixth biennial report on the school experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth. Once again, for the sixth time in the past decade, the release of GLSEN's premier research project illuminated the bleak reality in our schools, which has recently been highlighted by a crescendo of media attention.
GLSEN's 2009 National School Climate Survey documents the continuing crisis of anti-LGBT bias and harassment that shapes the experience of so many young people. It also points the way toward effective measures schools and educators can take that can offset the life-crippling effects of a hostile school environment and can help creative safe and affirming classrooms. When schools take certain steps, young people do better academically and individually in terms of the building blocks for successful lives. The good news is that there are things that can be done, and that more and more schools are doing them. The bad news is that far too many schools have not. Recent events, and the glare of increased media attention, have made that sad fact painfully clear.
It is at difficult moments like these that I am most grateful for the research effort at the core of GLSEN's work. For the past decade, we have studied the nature, scope and impact of anti-LGBT bias and behavior in K-12 schools, not just so that we could describe how bad things are, but so that we could figure out what works, design programs for maximum impact, track the outcomes of our initiatives and evaluate our success.
When the chips are down, as they are so dramatically these days, I know that our programs work and that our efforts matter. I know we have done all that we can to craft effective responses to the conditions that drive some young people to despair. Two examples are:
The Safe Space Kit
No Name-Calling Week
Along the way, we have built the base of knowledge that provides the vocabulary of the Safe Schools Movement, and inspired countless thousands to take the actions that are so desperately needed. Learn more about our NSCS, and all of our other groundbreaking research efforts here at glsen.org/research .
Thank you so much for the sustaining support that has made this work possible.
Warm regards,
Eliza Byard
Executive Director, GLSEN
-end-
On September 14, we released the most recent National School Climate Survey, the sixth biennial report on the school experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth. Once again, for the sixth time in the past decade, the release of GLSEN's premier research project illuminated the bleak reality in our schools, which has recently been highlighted by a crescendo of media attention.GLSEN's 2009 National School Climate Survey documents the continuing crisis of anti-LGBT bias and harassment that shapes the experience of so many young people. It also points the way toward effective measures schools and educators can take that can offset the life-crippling effects of a hostile school environment and can help creative safe and affirming classrooms. When schools take certain steps, young people do better academically and individually in terms of the building blocks for successful lives. The good news is that there are things that can be done, and that more and more schools are doing them. The bad news is that far too many schools have not. Recent events, and the glare of increased media attention, have made that sad fact painfully clear.
It is at difficult moments like these that I am most grateful for the research effort at the core of GLSEN's work. For the past decade, we have studied the nature, scope and impact of anti-LGBT bias and behavior in K-12 schools, not just so that we could describe how bad things are, but so that we could figure out what works, design programs for maximum impact, track the outcomes of our initiatives and evaluate our success.
When the chips are down, as they are so dramatically these days, I know that our programs work and that our efforts matter. I know we have done all that we can to craft effective responses to the conditions that drive some young people to despair. Two examples are:
Along the way, we have built the base of knowledge that provides the vocabulary of the Safe Schools Movement, and inspired countless thousands to take the actions that are so desperately needed. Learn more about our NSCS, and all of our other groundbreaking research efforts here at glsen.org/research .
Thank you so much for the sustaining support that has made this work possible.
Warm regards,
Eliza Byard
Executive Director, GLSEN
-end-
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