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More conversations with students about personal responsibility, boundaries, and gender stereotypes are happening than ever before—from kindergarteners getting the choice between a high-five and a hug to middle school teachers pointing out an imbalance in gender dynamics in classrooms. Along with reinforcing a sense of personal empowerment, addressing sexual and gender-based harassment (harassment based on gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression) is a crucial part of sexual abuse prevention. While research about the connection between harassment and future violence is still in early stages, a 2018 study indicates that addressing sexual and gender-based harassment in middle school is not only developmentally appropriate, but critical for intervention. Another 2018 study indicates that adolescence is a key time to combat gender stereotypes and suggests that sexual violence prevention efforts should directly address harmful attitudes about traditional masculinity, pro-violence attitudes, and dismissiveness of sexual harassment.3 Sexual and gender-based harassment can include spreading sexual rumors, unwanted touching, and homophobic name-calling—and it can happen to students of any gender identity or sexual orientation.

Why Educators Are Essential to Child Abuse Prevention Educators play a key role in protecting children from sexual abuse. Child sexual abuse and assault reportedly happens to 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 20 boys in the United States (Finkelhor, D., Shattuck, A., Turner, H. A., & Hamby, S. L., 2014), so chances are that every educator knows several children who have been or are being abused. Find prevention tips and learn the signs of child sexual abuse from Committee for Children’s child abuse prevention resources. Research shows that effective abuse prevention efforts include school-based prevention programs—children are less likely to be victimized when caring adults teach them about sexual abuse (Finkelhor, D. & Dziuba-Leatherman, J., 1995).

That’s why we advocate at both the state and federal level for policies and laws that support social-emotional learning in schools, prevent bullying, and protect children from sexual abuse and violence. The P&A team works with policymakers across the country and supports laws and policies that help to prevent child sexual abuse, as well as for social-emotional learning (SEL) and bullying prevention. When a bill we’re tracking is moving through your state legislature (or the US Congress) and reaches a critical point, we can email you an action alert, so it’s easy for you to make your voice heard with a few simple steps. In January, we hosted a congressional briefing in Washington, DC, to educate policymakers about why federal funding for research on child sexual abuse prevention is essential and to request $10 million dollars in new funding for this research.

Funding Passed in Ohio to Support SEL in Place of Exclusionary Discipline Since 2012, Ohio has developed social-emotional learning (SEL) largely in conjunction with its work concerning Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS). Provide $14 million in grants: $12 million for school safety and $2 million to support alternatives to suspensions and expulsions • Phase out suspensions and expulsions for preK through Grade 3 students Committee for Children helped with the passage of this bill and holds up its policy pathways as a national exemplar in evidence-based, supportive discipline policy. Matching their curriculum with data-identified student needs For monitoring purposes, the act also requires that school report cards include acknowledgment as to whether schools have implemented a PBIS framework, which may include data systems, an evidence-based curriculum and effective instructional strategies, evidence-based and data-driven classroom practices, and improving staff climate and culture concerning discipline. Has for Its Students Ohio’s Department of Education believes each child should be “challenged to discover and learn, prepared to pursue a fulfilling post-high school path and empowered to become a resilient, lifelong learner who contributes to society.