Schools, under Title IX, are required to investigate a situation where there is a report of sexual harassment as well as formally addressing the issue to students, staff, and parents as a preventative measure.
In a study conducted by the AAUW in 2011, of 7th to 12th grade students, only 12% of the surveyed students felt that their school did enough to address sexual harassment.
In colleges and universities
When college students were surveyed, it was found that 35% do not tell anyone about a sexual harassment occurrence, 49% tell a friend, and only 7% go to a school faculty member to report the incident. Female students especially were noted to hesitate to report these incidents in fear that the incidents are not important enough or a large enough deal. 54% of the surveyed college students listed this as a reason for not reporting sexual harassment.
Policies and procedures
79% of surveyed college students know of sexual harassment policies in their colleges. The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights has mandated that schools create policies for sexual harassment as well as procedures for how to handle reports of these instances. The Office for Civil Rights' guidelines for effective sexual harassment policies include:
Issuing a policy against sex discrimination
Incorporating grievance procedures
Creating specific investigation plans and timelines
Explaining where one can file a report
Designating one person (at least) to be the Title IX coordinator for complaints and provide the school faculty and students with that person's contact information
Creating a disciplinary plan for the perpetrators
Ensuring that all of the sexual harassment policies and procedures are easily accessible to students, teachers, faculty, and parents
Along with sexual harassment policies in colleges and universities, brochures or informational handouts are often distributed, and there are often designated locations or personnel on campus where victims can report sexual harassment. Under Title IX, schools that receive federal funding must designate a coordinator to whom those who need to report sexual harassment can go to, as well as who can receive suggestions and feedback from students on how to improve upon how the school is dealing with sexual harassment. This is required of all schools who receive federal funding, not only in higher education.
Prevention
Aside from dealing with sexual harassment as it occurs, using the designated procedures, prevention is often used to eliminate sexual harassment before it begins, particularly in schools.The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights has stated that training is part of the prevention of sexual harassment in schools and in their 2001 publishing of Sexual Harassment Guidance: Harassment of Students by School Employees, Other Students or Third Parties, they have indicated that not only should academic institutions provide faculty and teacher training, but also provide students with classroom resources in order to make them aware of what constitutes sexual harassment and what to do if it occurs. It is often recommended that consistent anti-sexual harassment workshops begin in the younger grades so that students remain informed and the policies are strongly enforced.