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Despite progress in recent years, members of the LGBTQ+ community remain underrepresented and underserved in the school system. Ferial Pearson and Steven Gill draw on research literature and their own experiences as out queer educators to recommend a set of actions educators can take to reduce harm to members of these communities in school. They call for explicit safe/brave spaces and school cultures, support for LGBTQ+ educators, greater representation in school curricula, and professional development for teachers. Current research shows the benefits of these approaches, but more research is needed to learn what school-level practices and policy changes will be most beneficial to students in different regions and with different intersecting identities.

In this regular column, Kappan authors recommend books that have influenced them. This month, Ferial Pearson recommends Case Studies on Diversity and Social Justice Education (2nd ed.) by Paul Gorksi and Seema Pothini. Bonnie C. Fusarelli and Lance D. Fusarelli recommend Savage Inequalities: Children in America’s Schools by Jonathan Kozol.

This phenomenological study explored the perceptions of 23 educators as related to the implementation of the Secret Kindness Agents Project . The methodology was comprised of a researcher-designed questionnaire to capture the essence of the participants’ experiences with the project. A Conceptual Map developed by researchers at the University of Arizona in 2016 was used as the Conceptual Framework for the study. Participants reported perceived impacts of the project on themselves, their students, and their contexts. Their responses fell into the following themes: Kindness Focus, Changing Pedagogy and Classroom Management, Improved Work Environment/Morale/Well-Being, Improved Social-Emotional Skills, and Improved School/Context Environment. The researcher examined the central themes, conducted a data analysis congruent with the literature review, and described the key findings in the concluding chapter. The researcher synthesized the key findings of the data in order to recommend implications for future research and practices in the Secret Kindness Agents Project.

In the wake of the passage of Florida’s so-called “don’t say gay” law, more than a dozen other states – including Missouri, Iowa, Tennessee and Ohio – have proposed similar legislation aimed at limiting how teachers discuss topics of gender identity or sexual orientation. [...]our experiences and those of our survey participants are being lost as lawmakers restrict what teachers can and cannot say in the classroom, how students can and cannot participate in school programs, and what symbols teachers can and cannot have in their classrooms. Ferial Pearson, Assistant Professor of Teacher Education, University of Nebraska Omaha

In the wake of the passage of Florida’s so-called “don’t say gay” law, more than a dozen other states – including Missouri, Iowa, Tennessee and Ohio – have proposed similar legislation aimed at limiting how teachers discuss topics of gender identity or sexual orientation. [...]our experiences and those of our survey participants are being lost as lawmakers restrict what teachers can and cannot say in the classroom, how students can and cannot participate in school programs, and what symbols teachers can and cannot have in their classrooms. Ferial Pearson, Assistant Professor of Teacher Education, University of Nebraska Omaha