K-12 Education: DOD Has Taken Steps to Support Students Affected by Problematic Sexual Behaviors, but Challenges Remain

Fast Facts

The Department of Defense school system collects detailed information about reported unwanted sexual behaviors—from inappropriate touching to sexual assault—among its more than 66,000 students.

However, some students involved in such incidents may not be getting the support they need, such as mental health counseling. The military's Family Advocacy Program is charged with responding to these incidents, but only military dependents are eligible for most of its support services. We found that 1 in 5 students are ineligible because their parents are DOD civilians.

Our recommendations address this issue, and more.

Two children sitting in front of a mental health professional.

Highlights

What GAO Found

The Department of Defense Education Activity (DODEA), which educates over 66,000 military-connected pre-K through grade 12 students worldwide, collects detailed information about reported incidents of unwanted sexual behavior among students. These behaviors include those that are normative (but inappropriate), like unwanted touching in younger grades. It also includes behaviors that are severe and problematic at any age, like sexual assault. Since 2019, unwanted sexual behavior reports at DODEA schools have increased substantially due to enhanced reporting requirements. However, DODEA has not sought feedback on its updated reporting requirements from school leaders, who raised concerns about significant administrative burden with formally reporting normative behaviors, and stigma for students involved in them.

DODEA School Incident Reports and Key Efforts to Enhance Reporting

Note: DODEA school closures during the pandemic may also have contributed to fewer reports of unwanted sexual behaviors during school years 2019–2020 and 2020–2021.

DODEA students who are harmed by or exhibit problematic sexual behaviors face challenges accessing appropriate support services. DOD policy directs the Military Community Advocacy Directorate's Family Advocacy Program (FAP) to implement a consistent response strategy. However, GAO identified various weaknesses hindering these efforts. Specifically, the Military Community Advocacy Directorate:

has not monitored how consistently FAP includes DODEA in multidisciplinary teams, which are installation-wide response efforts, despite known issues;
has not monitored its efforts to close the gap in the number of FAP clinicians with expertise needed to treat children with problematic behaviors;
has not assessed the effectiveness of its efforts to address low participation in FAP clinical support services among eligible military families; and
chose to exclude the nearly one in five DODEA students who are children of civilian defense workers from accessing most FAP services and has not assessed whether this policy meets the needs of military communities.

Without addressing these weaknesses, DOD risks ongoing challenges in ensuring that students who are harmed by or exhibit problematic sexual behavior receive the support needed to assure the safety of the DODEA community.

Why GAO Did This Study

DODEA is required to protect students from discrimination based on sex, which can include sexual harassment.

Senate Report 117-130 and House Report 117-397 include a provision for GAO to examine DODEA's response to unwanted sexual behaviors. This report examines (1) the information DODEA collects to identify unwanted sexual behavior and (2) the availability of support services to students that are harmed by or exhibit such behavior.

GAO analyzed the most recent available DODEA data on reported incidents of unwanted sexual behavior among students in school years 2019–2020 through 2022–2023. GAO also conducted site visits to 11 DODEA schools and the FAP agencies serving five military communities in the U.S. and Europe, selected for geographic, grade level, and service branch variation. GAO also reviewed relevant federal laws and agency policies and interviewed agency officials from DODEA, Child and Youth Advocacy, and FAP.

Recommendations

GAO is making five recommendations to DOD, including to (1) assess reporting processes for normative behaviors, (2) monitor DODEA inclusion in response efforts, (3) monitor efforts to increase FAP clinical expertise, (4) assess efforts to improve participation in FAP support services, and (5) assess its policy to exclude civilian-dependent students from receiving most FAP services. DOD generally agreed with GAO's recommendations.

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected	Recommendation	Status
Department of Defense	The Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness should direct the DODEA Director to assess the benefits and drawbacks of its current reporting process for incidents of normative sexual behavior among students. As a part of its efforts, DODEA should obtain school administrators' feedback on the amount of time spent investigating and reporting normative incidents, and whether there are opportunities to reduce reporting burden or stigma for these incidents. (Recommendation 1)	Open DOD agreed with this recommendation. DOD said it takes its responsibility to protect students from all unwanted sexual behaviors (normative or not) seriously and noted that it would continue to engage with stakeholders to refine its approach to monitoring for all inappropriate student sexual behaviors. We will monitor the progress of the Department's efforts to address this recommendation.
Department of Defense	The Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness should direct the Military Community Advocacy Directorate to monitor the consistency with which DODEA is included on the multidisciplinary team, and take further actions, as needed, to improve participation. (Recommendation 2)	Open DOD agreed with this recommendation but did not identify plans to address it. We will monitor any DOD efforts to implement this recommendation.
Department of Defense	The Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness should direct the Military Community Advocacy Directorate to monitor the results of its efforts to assure that FAP clinicians have the training needed to treat students exhibiting problematic sexual behavior and take additional actions, as needed, to close gaps in clinical expertise. This assessment could leverage data from the Military Community Advocacy Directorate's new case management system. (Recommendation 3)	Open DOD agreed with this recommendation but did not identify plans to address it. We will monitor any DOD efforts to implement this recommendation.
Department of Defense	The Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness should direct the Military Community Advocacy Directorate to evaluate and monitor the effectiveness of its existing and planned strategies to systematically address low participation in FAP support services. (Recommendation 4)	Open DOD agreed with this recommendation but did not identify plans to address it. We will monitor any DOD efforts to implement this recommendation.
Department of Defense	The Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness should direct the Military Community Advocacy Directorate to assess whether the current response policy to incidents of problematic sexual behaviors involving civilian-dependent students is sufficient to ensure the safety of all DODEA students and develop a plan to bridge any gaps. This assessment could include a review of current eligibility policies and identify opportunities to offer clinical support services to all DODEA students. (Recommendation 5)	Open DOD agreed with this recommendation but did not identify plans to address it. We will monitor any DOD efforts to implement this recommendation.