How district leaders use data and research about LGBTQ+ adolescents to initiate protective or harmful programs is a critical component in navigating educational policy conversations. Currently, beliefs and values appear to outpace data and research use. As data about LGBTQ+ students becomes politicized, community members’ trust in gender- and sexual-diversity reform research, which studies ways to improve policies, practices, and societal attitudes to affirm the full spectrum of gender identities and sexual orientations, may weaken. To build a stronger empirical evidence base about the use and consequences of data and research related to LGBTQ+ students, McQuillan will use this award to examine the sensemaking routines of district administrators regarding gender- and sexual-diversity reform evidence and examine how district administrators’ data and research use routines about gender and sexual diversity reform evidence affects LGBTQ+ student outcomes. The study will also improve the measurement that guides research and informs district administrators when developing gender- and sexual-diversity reforms. V. Paul Poteat, Professor of Counseling, Developmental and Education Psychology at Boston College, will provide mentorship on relational and cognitive processes involved in how school-based organizational routines influence students. Jennifer Dykema, Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin, will provide mentorship on survey development and data validity.
How do district administrators use gender- and sexual-diversity educational reform research to influence LGBTQ+ student outcomes?
