The Critical Need to Enforce Title IX as it Relates to Pregnant and Parenting Students

In this presentation, attendees will be able to identify nine (9) educational barriers pushing pregnant and parenting students out of school. These barriers were identified in a National Women’s Law Center study. To better understand what healthy and safe schools look like for all girls, the National Women’s Law Center collaborated with Lake Research Partners to conduct a study of girls from January 5-19, 2017. The study included an online survey of 1,003 girls ages 14-18 nationwide. Black, Latinas, Asian/Pacific Islander girls, Native American girls, and LGBTQ girls were oversampled. The data were weighted by age, race, and census region to reflect the actual proportions of the population. Oversamples were weighted down to reflect their proportions in the population. The study also included six focus groups on barriers facing girls who are survivors of sexual assault and girls who are either currently pregnant or those who are parenting children. Attendees will learn recommendations on how to support the academic success of pregnant and parenting students. These recommendations were provided in a pamphlet–Supporting the Academic Success of Pregnant and Parenting Students Under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972- published by the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights. Attendees will hear the lived experiences of pregnant and parenting students. This information was gathered in the fall of 2013 during interviews with students who had a teen pregnancy and still graduated high school on time. At the time of the interviews, students were college students or recent college graduates. Graduates were interviewed using an interview protocol to discover what factors helped them graduate. The findings revealed they graduated because they had support from home, school, and the community