My projects derives heavily on my policy, “Improving Public Schools’ Environments for LGBT Students.” I plan to contact nearby middle schools and high schools in Holyoke and South Hadley in Massachusetts to see if teachers and staff members are willing to be involved with a workshop that will give them resources on how to deal with LGBT – related bullying. After measuring its level of success, I will have the project packaged so that it is accessible to any state willing to be involved with it. This can be accessed at the Policy Expo. Ideally, this can be used nationally, adjusting to each state’s needs.
I plan on measuring my impact through surveying students, teachers, and administrators on a local level. On a state and national level, a good way of measuring success is through statistics. The Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) surveys schools’ climates through its National School Climate Survey; it includes rates of harassment, physical and verbal. This can be a great tool of measuring success of the project.
I hope to work with GLSEN: Greater Cincinnati and GLSEN in New York for their successful Rochester case study. I would like to also partner with ACLU due to their support for the Student Non-Discrimination Act.
