Research and Practice in Transition: Improving Support and Advocacy of Transgender Middle School Students

In this essay, our purposes are to inspire particular avenues of future research addressing Transgender
students, in middle school in particular, and to inform the professional development of teachers in
support of these Transgender youth. In relation to the ways in which research can more authentically
represent Transgender identity, we argue for the use of Transgender theory as a guiding framework for
research addressing Transgender students, issues, and needs. We also describe the particular affordances
of qualitative, ethnographic, and phenomenological studies in capturing the unique and highly personal
experiences and realities of Transgender individuals, and specifically, in middle school. We then discuss
how schools are structured socially and politically along heteronormative and cisnormative lines,
presenting a stumbling block for Transgender rights advocacy in educational contexts. Finally, we review
the potential of teachers to be the necessary educational change agents to spur greater understanding of
and advocacy for students’ gender inclusivity.