Sec. 203. Climate surveys for k–12 schools
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The Secretary, in consultation with the Attorney General, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and experts in domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, disability, sexual harassment, and stalking, shall, in accordance with applicable privacy laws, develop, design, and make available through a secure and accessible online portal, a standardized online survey tool regarding the experience of elementary school and secondary school students with domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, sexual harassment, and stalking.
In developing the survey tool required under subsection (a), the Secretary shall— use best practices from peer-reviewed research measuring domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, sexual harassment, and stalking; consult with the education community, experts in survey research related to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, sexual harassment, and stalking, and organizations engaged in the prevention of and response to, and advocacy on behalf of victims of, domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, sexual harassment, and stalking regarding the development and design of such survey tool and the methodology for administration of such survey tool; provide opportunity for stakeholder feedback through public listening sessions or a 30-day open comment period; ensure that the survey tool is readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities and publicly accessible in multiple languages, accessibility formats, and provided in a language that parents, family, and community members can understand; and ensure that the survey questions are different for staff and students and for different age groups in order to ensure that the questions are developmentally appropriate.
The survey tool developed pursuant to this section shall be fair and unbiased, be scientifically valid and reliable, and meet the highest standards of survey research. Survey questions included in the survey tool developed pursuant to this section shall— be designed to gather information on student experiences with domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, sexual harassment, and stalking, including the experiences of victims of such incidents; use trauma-informed language to prevent retraumatization; and include age-appropriate questions— that give students the option to report their demographic information; designed to determine the incidence and prevalence of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, sexual harassment, and stalking whether the incident occurred on or off campus, and whether carried out in whole or in part through the use of electronic messaging services, commercial mobile services, electronic communications, or other technology; regarding whether students know about institutional policies and procedures related to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, sexual harassment, and stalking; designed to determine, if complainants reported domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, sexual harassment, or stalking— to whom the incident was reported and what response, including any supportive measures, the complainant may have received; whether the complainant was informed of, or referred to, national, State, local, or on-site resources; and whether the entity to whom the complainant reported the incident conducted an investigation and the duration and final resolution of such an investigation; regarding contextual factors, such as whether force, incapacitation, or coercion was involved; to determine whether an accused individual was a student, faculty, staff, administrator, or third-party vendor at the elementary school or secondary school in which the complainant is enrolled or another school served by the local educational agency that serves the elementary school or secondary school; to determine whether a complainant reported an incident to State, local, or school-based law enforcement; to determine why the complainant chose to report or not report an incident to the school or local educational agency or State or local law enforcement; to determine the impact of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, sexual harassment, and stalking on the complainant’s education, including diminished grades, dropped classes, leaves of absence, and negative financial consequences (including costs associated with counseling, medical services, or housing changes); to determine if a complainant was punished in connection with reporting the incident or for ancillary behavior related to the incident (such as punishment for missing class because of mental health impacts for fear of perpetrator, being placed on academic probation for declining grades related to trauma following incident, and more); to determine the impact and effectiveness of prevention and awareness programs and complaints processes for the overall student body and different student populations, including— students of color;
LGBTQI+ students; immigrant students; pregnant, expectant, or parenting students; or students with disabilities; and to determine attitudes toward sexual violence and harassment, including the willingness of individuals to intervene as a bystander of sex-based (including on the basis of sex stereotypes, pregnancy, childbirth or a related medical condition, sexual orientation and gender identity, or sex characteristics), race-based, national origin-based, and disability-based discrimination, harassment, assault, domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, sexual harassment, and stalking.
States and local educational agencies may add additional questions to the survey tool developed pursuant to this section as they determine appropriate. In addition to the standardized questions developed by the Secretary under subsection (c), an elementary school or secondary school may request additional information from students that would increase the documentation, through qualitative and quantitative evidence of the elementary school or secondary school of school climate factors unique to the school.
The responses to the survey questions described in subsection
(c)shall— be submitted confidentially; and in the case of such responses being included in a report described in subsection (g), not include personally identifiable information. The Secretary, in consultation with the Attorney General, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Secretary of Health and Human Services, shall develop a mechanism by which local educational agencies may, with respect to the survey tool developed pursuant to this section— administer such survey tool in compliance with applicable privacy laws; and modify such survey tool to include additional elements or requirements, as determined by the elementary school or secondary school. The Secretary may not require a local educational agency to pay to modify the survey tool in accordance with paragraph (1)(B). The Secretary shall ensure that the survey tool is administered in such a way as to be readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities. Beginning not later than 1 year after the date on which the Secretary makes available to local educational agencies the mechanism described in paragraph (1), and every 2 years thereafter, each local educational agency that receives Federal financial assistance (as such term is defined in section 7501(a)(5) of title 31, United States Code) shall administer the survey tool developed pursuant to this section. The Secretary shall require each local educational agency that receives Federal financial assistance (as such term is defined in section 7501(a)(5) of title 31, United States Code) to ensure, to the maximum extent practicable, that an adequate, random, and representative sample size of students (as determined by the Secretary) enrolled in the local educational agency complete the survey tool developed pursuant to this section. Information from the survey tool shall not be disaggregated or reported if the number of students in a category is insufficient to yield statistically reliable information or the results would reveal personally identifiable information about an individual student. Beginning not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, and every 2 years thereafter, the Secretary shall, in accordance with applicable privacy laws and in accordance with subsection (f)(6)— prepare a 2-year report on the information gained from the standardized elements of the survey under this section, which shall include school-level data that permits comparisons across elementary schools and secondary schools; publish such report in an accessible format on the website of the Department of Education; and submit such report to Congress. Each elementary school or secondary school shall publish, in accordance with applicable privacy laws and with subsection (f)(6) and in a manner that is readily accessible and usable by individuals, including individuals with disabilities— the results of the standardized elements of the survey under this section on the website of the elementary school or secondary school; and the results of the additional elements modifying the survey by the elementary school or secondary school, if any, on the school's website. In this section: The terms elementary school , local educational agency , and secondary school have the meanings given the terms in section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 ( 20 U.S.C. 7801 ). The term personally identifiable information means, with respect to a student— the student's name, whether given at birth or time of adoption, or resulting from a lawful change of name; the name of the student's parent or another family member; the address of the student or another family member; a personal identifier, such as the student's social security number, student number, or biometric record; another indirect identifier, such as the student's date of birth, place of birth, or mother's maiden name; and other information that, alone or in combination, is linked or linkable to the student that would allow a reasonable person in the school community, who does not have personal knowledge of the relevant circumstances, to identify the student with reasonable certainty. The term Secretary means the Secretary of Education. The term sexual harassment means any unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature, regardless of whether it is direct or indirect, or verbal or nonverbal (including conduct that is undertaken in whole or in part, through the use of electronic messaging services, commercial mobile services, electronic communications, or other technology), that unreasonably alters an individual’s terms, benefits, or privileges of an education program or activity, including by creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive environment, which takes the form of— a sexual advance; a request for sexual favors; a sexual act, where such submission is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of a program or activity at a school or school activity, regardless of a student’s submission to or rejection of such sexual act; a sexual act, where such submission or rejection is used as the basis for a decision affecting a term or condition of a program or activity at a school or school activity, regardless of a student’s submission to or rejection of such sexual act; other conduct of a sexual nature; or domestic violence, intimate partner violence (dating violence), and sex-based stalking.
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Sec. 203
Climate surveys for k–12 schools
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