Advocating for Safe, Inclusive K-12 School Climates: Educator Guide
Tools and Strategies
Empower K-12 educators to advocate against antisemitism from colleagues, unions, or students. Create safe, inclusive school climates through direct advocacy.
Advocating When Antisemitism Comes from K-12 Students
Tools and Strategies
Immediate Response and Reporting When educators face antisemitic incidents in the classroom, the first priority is to stop the harm and stabilize the classroom. For guidance on incident response specifically, you can view ADL’s bias incident response guide for educators. While an immediate response is crucial, consistent with governing law and school/district policies, it’s also critical to continue proactive advocacy work – ensuring school leadership strengthens systems…
Best Practices for Combating Antisemitism for State Lawmakers
Tools and Strategies
ADL has been closely tracking how states are addressing antisemitism and supporting their Jewish communities. In 2024, ADL tabulated 9,354 antisemitic incidents across the United States – a 5% increase from 2023, a 344% increase over the past five years, and an 893% increase over the past decade. These numbers underscore the urgent need for state-level action. As highlighted in our first-of-its-kind Jewish Policy Index (JPI), our goal is to provide a tool that advocates, educators and…
Conversations that Matter: Understanding and Discussing Antisemitism with Young People
Tools and Strategies
This resource assists parents, families and other trusted adults in understanding and helping the young people in their lives who are facing antisemitism—in school, online, in communities.
Identity-Based Bullying: Listening to Young People
Tools and Strategies
Table Talk: Family Conversations about Current EventsAll young people should be able to feel safe, included and respected in their classrooms and schools. Unfortunately, many do not. A recent study of high school students found that nearly four in ten students experienced identity-based bullying or bullying related to an aspect of their identity such as race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or physical appearance. How can we listen and learn from young people about…
Table Talk: Family Conversations about Current EventsYou may have heard about “swatting” because it's been in the news recently. What exactly is swatting? Why do people do it? Because young people are exposed to swatting online, on both mainstream websites and the “dark web” (i.e., hidden websites) and because some swatting incidents begin in online gaming or other digital platforms, it is an important topic to discuss with young people. Swatting is &ldquo…
This discussion guide about the musical Parade will help middle and high school students and adults reflect upon and discuss the themes and artistic elements of Parade.
When ‘Just Joking’ Is No Joke: How to Respond When Students’ ‘Jokes’ are Biased or Offensive
Tools and Strategies
There are many benefits of humor. A good joke can ease tension in a stressful situation. Humor can connect people and bring them together. Jokes can bring levity to a situation that begs for lightheartedness. Being funny can signal to others who you are. Humor can even open a conversation that previously felt closed or off-limits.
However, jokes and humor, when they target social identity groups, can do the opposite. They can make people feel unsafe, disconnected, excluded and…