Fidelity of Implementation of a State Antibullying Policy With a Focus on Protected Social Classes

Bullying threatens the mental and educational well-being of students. All states have enacted antibullying laws. This study surveyed 634 educators about the implementation of the North Carolina School Violence Prevention Act, which enumerated social classes protected from bullying: race, national origin, gender, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, gender identity, appearance, and disability. Results showed that local antibullying policies most often included race as a protected class and least often included sexual orientation and gender identity. More educators had been trained on bullying based on race than any other social class. Students were more often informed that bullying based on race was prohibited and were least often informed about prohibitions regarding sexual orientation and gender identity. Reporting, investigating, and remediating bullying was highest for racial bullying, followed by disability bullying, and was lowest for bullying based on sexual orientation and gender identity.