A new report issued this weekend by the Equity Project at Indiana University has made some suggestions about how schools should best protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students from bullying, harassment and discrimination.

The first recommendation it made was for schools to collect more data about the LGBT student population to better understand how to take appropriate actions.

“The absence of consistent sources of data that include SOGI (sexual orientation and gender identity) and its intersections with school bullying and discipline makes it impossible to understand the extent of the problem or generate approaches for remediation,” the report said, according to The Detroit News.

While the Education Department’s Civil Rights Data Collection includes data on minority and disabled students to identify how they can helped in the nation’s schools, it doesn’t include any data on LGBT students.

The report suggests that surveys on school climate, safety and health surveys should ask about sexual and gender orientation as well to remedy this problem.

Further, it urges Congress to pass the Student Non-Discrimination Act, which would be the first federal law passed to specifically protect LGBT students’ rights.

Read the full story.

Article by Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

3/28/2016