Educator Sexual Misconduct and Texas Educator Discipline Database Construction

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this research is to describe Texas educator sexual misconduct (ESM) by examining 8 years of sanctions issued to educators (N = 1415) for either sexual misconduct or inappropriate relationships with students or minors. We first examine Texas ESM from the perspective of quality database construction and then describe the demographic characteristics of educators sanctioned for ESM between 2008 and 2016. Differences in the demographic characteristics of educators sanctioned for ESM vary according to the definition of ESM employed by the state education agency. Younger and early career educators are more likely to engage in inappropriate relationships with students or minors, whereas older and later-career teachers are more likely to engage in sexual misconduct as that term is defined by the state education agency. Over one-third of educators sanctioned for ESM were either new to the profession or new to their school district when sanctioned. Recommendations are offered for database construction, policy, and practice.

KEYWORDS:

• educator sexual misconduct
• inappropriate relationships
• child sexual abuse
• schools
• educators

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The authors gratefully acknowledge support from the University of Texas at San Antonio for the research seed grant which initiated the database construction.

Notes on contributors

Catherine E. Robert

Catherine Robert, Ed.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the University of Texas at Arlington. She focuses her research on human resource topics including misconduct, employee turnover, and policy implementation.

David P. Thompson, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the University of Texas at San Antonio. His research interests include education law, educator ethics, and quantitative methods.

David P. Thompson

Catherine Robert, Ed.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the University of Texas at Arlington. She focuses her research on human resource topics including misconduct, employee turnover, and policy implementation.

David P. Thompson, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the University of Texas at San Antonio. His research interests include education law, educator ethics, and quantitative methods.