Billie-Jo Grant
Board Member
Dr. Grant is a nationally recognized expert in school employee sexual misconduct prevention. She has authored numerous peer-reviewed articles on the prevalence and prevention of school employee sexual misconduct, policy implementation, and implementation of federal and state laws. She has served as an advisor to the Office for Civil Rights regarding school employee sexual misconduct prevalence and Title IX implementation, the Department of Education, Study of State Policies to Prohibit Aiding and Abetting Sexual Misconduct in Schools, and the Ontario College of Teachers, Professional Advisory: Professional Misconduct of a Sexual Nature. She has been integral in providing legislators with evidence to pass state and federal legislation to better protect students from sexual misconduct.
Dr. Billie-Jo Grant is the President of Grant Consulting d/b/a McGrath Training Solutions, an educational company that provides training to help schools become safer, more effective learning environments. She have substantial experience in the design, administration, and analyses of randomized controlled trials and mixed-methods research and providing research and evaluation services for various clients primarily in the field of social sciences. Currently, Grant Consulting focuses on the review, analysis, and reporting of civil cases, with a primary emphasis on matters involving sexual abuse and harassment within youth-serving organizations. McGrath Training Solutions delivers specialized training and consulting services to K–12 school districts, equipping educators and administrators with tools to create safe, supportive, and legally compliant learning environments. McGrath offers two types of training. The McGrath Response System is a comprehensive training system addressing harassment, misconduct, discrimination and bullying, including Title IX compliance, for administrators, staff, students, and parents. It includes training both for the prevention of these issues and for the proper response including the intake and investigation of concerns and complaints. TRUE-SPEAK is a training system for effective and legally sound methods of communication, supervision, and evaluation for supervisors and front-line staff. The course provides administrators with a framework for how to give feedback that is in compliance with fairness in record keeping. Dr. Grant also provides implementation support, third party investigations, decision making and risk assessments for school district clients. She has provided training and supportive services to hundreds of school districts across the United States and Canada. As part of her roles, Dr. Grant follows developing research, laws, and best practices related to child safeguarding.
Dr. Grant's diverse background includes experience in the design, administration and analyses of randomized controlled trials, quasi-experimental studies, and cases studies involving the evaluation of preschool to higher education curricula, sexual harassment research, and prevention programs funded by organizations such as the Department of Justice, the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, the U.S. Department of Education, and the National School Board Association. She has experience developing and administering training curricula for school districts to effectively respond to sexual harassment and misconduct, discrimination and bullying.
Dr. Grant was the Principal Investigator for a Department of Justice School Safety study titled Sexual Misconduct by School Employees: Policy Implementation and Effectiveness. This two-year multi-centered study involved document collection, interviews, and focus groups with school employees and county officials directly and indirectly involved with incidents of school employee sexual misconduct across the U.S. The study included analyzing relevant federal regulations, state laws, and local policies to determine the standard of care and analyze their implementation and effectiveness for the districts in our study. This is one of very few government funded studies on sexual misconduct in schools.
Dr. Grant has served as an expert witness in more than 250 civil cases across 30 states, in both state and federal courts. In these matters, she has been retained to evaluate whether the actions of schools, youth-serving organizations, and their employees were reasonable under the circumstances and whether they met the applicable standard of care owed to children. Her work has included assessing both current and historical standards of care in public and private schools, as well as in a variety of other child-serving settings. The issues addressed have included the adequacy of policies, procedures, and practices related to the prevention of and response to abuse, harassment, misconduct, and bullying.
Billie-Jo holds a Ph.D. in Educational Research, Statistics, and Evaluation from the University of Virginia. She serves as a faculty member at Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo and has taught graduate courses on statistics, survey design, measurement theory, and qualitative and quantitative methods. Billie-Jo has three children and was a four-time All-American NCAA Track and Field athlete.
What do you hope to accomplish with The National Center to Stop Educator Sexual Abuse, Misconduct, and Exploitation?
My goal is to conduct much needed research in this area. First and foremost I hope to work with the team to apply for funding to conduct an updated generalizable student prevalence study (the last survey was collected in 2000). Without a more accurate prevalence rate of school employee misconduct, policymakers and school officials do not have the data needed to make informed decisions regarding school employee sexual misconduct prevention and investigation. This study is needed to better protect students and keep molesting school employees out of our schools.
In addition to research, I hope to make a difference by creating public awareness, assisting victims and survivors, advocating for improved policies and laws, and developing better training for students and staff.
Articles:
Title IX and School Employee Sexual Misconduct: How K-12 Schools Respond in the Wake of an Incident
Prevention of preK-12 School Employee Sexual Misconduct and Abuse
K–12 School Employee Sexual Abuse and Misconduct: An Examination of Policy Effectiveness
Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of PreK-12 Students by School Personnel
Exposing School Employee Sexual Abuse and Misconduct: Shedding Light on a Sensitive Issue
K–12 School Employee Sexual Misconduct: Lessons Learned from Title IX Policy Implementation
“The Challenges of Keeping Sexual Predators Out of the Classroom”
Preventing School Employee Sexual Misconduct: An Outcome Survey Analysis of Making Right Choices
“I Didn’t Know Where To Go”: An Examination of Stop It Now!’s Sexual Abuse Prevention Helpline
