69传媒

When Amelia Erickson learned she was pregnant at age 14, she was determined to keep working toward her high school diploma. But it wasn鈥檛 easy. After her son was born and she returned to school in Meridian, Idaho, she asked to step out a few times a day to breast-feed him at a nearby day care.

The school said no.

So for a year, Ms. Erickson tried working at home on her own, taking courses online, struggling, and nearly quitting her studies. Her son, now almost 2, 鈥渨ould be perfectly fine. Then as soon as I would turn around to do my homework, he would start crying,鈥� she recalled.

That wasn鈥檛 how was supposed to work. Passed 40 years ago to ensure all students have equal educational opportunities, the law is most often associated with student athletics. But it was intended to apply to many aspects of students鈥� schooling by strengthening the legal rights of pregnant teenagers, victims of sexual harassment, and others who may not get a fair shot at an education because of their gender.

While access to schooling for pregnant and parenting teenagers has improved since the law鈥檚 passage, from 2006 show that only half of women who gave birth as teenagers get a high school diploma by age 22, compared with 89 percent of those who didn鈥檛.

One reason: Too often, pregnant and parenting teenagers such as Ms. Erickson are deprived of equal opportunities, in part because of ignorance about Title IX鈥檚 application to this group of students, experts say.

鈥淭he lack of knowledge surrounding pregnant students means that in many cases the promise of the law is not being fulfilled,鈥� said Erin Prangley, the associate director for government relations of the American Association of University Women, in Washington.

Likewise, recent statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that about one in 10 high school students said they had been hit or otherwise hurt on purpose by a boyfriend or girlfriend; about 7 percent said they had been forced to have sex.

And, as recently as 2011, Michigan had a law banning pregnant students from getting the same at-home educational services as students who might be unable to attend school for any other medical condition. The National Women鈥檚 Law Center in Washington worked on undoing that ban and one in Georgia in 2009.

Call for Data

To get a better handle on how extensive such disparities are, Ms. Prangley鈥檚 group and others are pushing for the U.S. Department of Education鈥檚 office for civil rights to collect data about pregnant and parenting teenagers and how schools serve them.

鈥淎sk the schools point blank: Does your school provide child care, transportation, or tutoring? Does your school track data on girls who become pregnant?鈥� she said.

Similar recommendations are in a report out this week, 鈥淭itle IX at 40" from the National Coalition of Women & Girls in Education, which includes the AAUW.

In January, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said the OCR this year about pregnant students鈥� rights, a point Russlynn H. Ali, the department鈥檚 assistant secretary for civil rights, repeated in an interview with Education Week.

鈥淲e鈥檝e heard from lots of advocacy groups that say there鈥檚 a real concern,鈥� Ms. Ali said. 鈥淗ow do we ensure that young mothers get the education they鈥檙e entitled to?鈥�

Meanwhile, other federal policy makers are proposing measures to bolster support services for pregnant teenagers in schools. A bill introduced last August by U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., the , would require school districts to provide academic support services for pregnant and parenting students and require the collection and reporting of data on pregnant and parenting students.

Eventually, Ms. Erickson found the in Boise. A partnership between the Salvation Army and the Boise school district, it provides on-site day care, housing for women 18 and older, a social worker, and pregnancy and parenting classes. 69传媒 can miss school when necessary far more than at a typical high school, said head teacher Deborah Hedden-Nicely.

Ms. Erickson said she鈥檚 on track to graduate next year.

鈥淭he whole school is a huge support system,鈥� she said of Marian Pritchett. 鈥淚t鈥檚 all girls, so there鈥檚 drama. ...But if you鈥檙e having a bad day and crying in the cafeteria like I was, everyone will come up to you and rub your back ... Even if you hate the girl.

鈥淚t鈥檚 the mother in us,鈥� Ms. Erickson said.

Violence and Harassment

The OCR has been more active in cases of sexual harassment and violence. The agency has launched a number of investigations into how colleges and districts have handled some of these cases. They include the 2010 sexual assault of a student at a District of Columbia high school and the brutal rape of a student waiting for a ride after the prom by multiple men in Contra Costa, Calif., in 2009. That episode went on for about two hours before anyone watching called police.

Both cases are still open, Ms. Ali said, because they have evolved from looking at a single school to the entire district.

Last year, her agency issued guidance about how schools must handle and investigate incidents of sexual violence, citing Title IX鈥檚 protections against discrimination. During the 2007-08 school year, there were 800 rapes on elementary, middle, and high school campuses and 3,800 cases of sexual battery aside from rape, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

The guidance noted, for example, that schools don鈥檛 have to wait for the conclusion of a criminal investigation before beginning a Title IX probe. And while that inquiry is in progress, schools can take steps, including making sure a victim and suspected aggressor aren鈥檛 in the same classes and providing medical and counseling services.

Even if an incident occurs off campus, a school isn鈥檛 absolved of responsibility because the incident could create a hostile environment for the victim on campus.

That guidance and another about schools鈥� responsibilities in cases of bullying and harassment 鈥渨ere really welcome,鈥� said Lara S. Kaufmann, the senior counsel for the , although the guidance has raised concern among school district advocates.

Drawing attention to these issues and their ties to civil rights laws and Title IX has triggered changes in school policies across the country. Still, there is work to be done, Ms. Kaufmann said.

Ms. Prangley cited the 2009 suicide of . Ms. Witsell was an 8th grader at Beth Shields Middle School in Ruskin, Fla., who was punished after sending a topless photo of herself to a boy she liked, a photo that quickly went viral at her school and another nearby. She was suspended for a week and forbidden to run for a spot as the Future Farmers of America student adviser for her school the next school year. But when she was at school, as one newspaper account describes it, her friends escorted her 鈥渄own hallways like human shields, fending off insults such as 鈥榳hore鈥� and 鈥榮lut.鈥� 鈥� Ms. Witsell eventually hanged herself.

鈥淣obody provided the protection she鈥檇 need [from what] we see as sexual harassment,鈥� Ms. Prangley said, noting that the 197,000-student Hillsborough County district that includes Ms. Witsell鈥檚 school was among her organization cited for reporting zero incidents of bullying and harassment in the 2009-10 school year.

鈥淲e鈥檙e not saying the districts are horrible people for not reporting data,鈥� she said. 鈥淲hat we don鈥檛 expect is districts to turn a blind eye to these harassment issues and pretend like they don鈥檛 exist.鈥�