Student Well-Being

Online Sexual Exploitation Is a Growing Threat to Kids. What Schools Can Do

By Arianna Prothero — August 15, 2024 4 min read
A drowning hand reaching out of a cellphone for help
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Online sexual exploitation of children is a serious and growing problem—fueled in part by the rise of social media—and one which educators are well positioned to help combat, say experts.

One in 5 children receive an unwanted sexual solicitation online every year, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. To aid schools in countering this troubling trend in the new school year, the federal agency has released free resources for educators to learn both how to spot potential victims and how to talk to students about staying safe online.

The program is in response to educators asking federal officials for more resources, said Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in an interview with Education Week.

Because kids spend so much time in school, DHS sees educators as playing an important role in keeping kids safe from online exploitation, Mayorkas said.

Teachers and school staff have the “ability to observe over time and see patterns of [kids’] behavior and anomalies in those patterns,” he said. “They are in a position of trust. And they are in a position to do something about it.”

DHS defines online child sexual exploitation and abuse as criminal acts by perpetrators—strangers or people the victim knows—that exploit minors for sexual gratification or personal or financial gain.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas speaks during a news conference in Tucson, Ariz., Wednesday, June 26, 2024.

It’s vital that educators are aware of the problem as it continues to grow, Mayorkas said.

“We have the omnipresence of the social [media] tools, we have the growth in the number of exploiters, and we have increasing vulnerability of the children to it,” he said. “In my view, the growth in the use of social media has not been accompanied by an advancement in digital literacy, and that chasm leads to vulnerability.”

DHS’s Know2Protect program launched in April, but it’s now getting updated with materials specifically for educators. The resources include training videos for educators on how to identify if a student is the victim of online sexual exploitation, printable posters to display in classrooms and hallways, activities for all ages of students to do in class to learn how to stay safe online, and educational handouts to send home to families.

Schools can also book free virtual or in-person trainings for students with agents from Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. Secret Service.

Are schools prepared to tackle this growing problem?

Research shows school-based prevention education programs teaching students about health and safety—whether it’s bullying or drug prevention—are very effective, said David Finkelhor, a sociologist who directs the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire.

Finkelhor recommends that schools connect online exploitation education to other prevention programs.

“Safety and health all rely on certain core skills and capacities that kids need,” he said. “They include how to make decisions and have good judgment, how to empathize with people, how to manage your own emotions, how to seek help, how to extricate yourself from situations where you think something is going wrong.”

But unlike bullying or drug use, many of the fundamental concepts students need to learn about online sexual exploitation may be off limits in their school.

“We don’t know how successful these programs can be without comprehensive sex education,” Finkelhor said.

When sex- and gender-related topics aren’t taught in schools, kids turn to the internet to learn more, Finkelhor said, and that can lead them to unsafe spaces online. That’s especially true for kids who are questioning their sexual orientation or gender.

“These are kids who are particularly vulnerable to being victimized because they oftentimes don’t have an opportunity to talk about those things with people that they know, and they go online and that’s where they run into people who will exploit them,” he said.

The other roadblock to implementing any program meant to educate and identify victims of online sexual exploitation is bandwidth, said Noelle Ellerson Ng, the associate executive director for AASA, the School Superintendents Association.

It is true that educators are perfectly situated to help identify potential victims as adults who spend their days with kids and are mandated reporters—people who are required by law to report suspected abuse.

But any effort to incorporate prevention education in school schedules or educate teachers and other school staff on how to identify online exploitation victims runs into a larger debate over what schools’ roles are, said Ng.

“Any single day or single school year is a finite amount of time,” she said. “How much of that child’s K-12 experience should be direct instruction? How much of that child’s K-12 experience should teachers be out of classroom to get training? These are real time opportunity costs that we have to discuss. At the same time, relying on schools to do instruction only misses so much that needs to be done. You have inherent societal shortfalls that districts are well positioned to help support.”

Events

Artificial Intelligence K-12 Essentials Forum Big AI Questions for Schools. How They Should Respond 
Join this free virtual event to unpack some of the big questions around the use of AI in K-12 education.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
School & District Management Webinar
Harnessing AI to Address Chronic Absenteeism in Schools
Learn how AI can help your district improve student attendance and boost academic outcomes.
Content provided by Panorama Education
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Science Webinar
Spark Minds, Reignite Students & Teachers: STEM’s Role in Supporting Presence and Engagement
Is your district struggling with chronic absenteeism? Discover how STEM can reignite students' and teachers' passion for learning.
Content provided by Project Lead The Way

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Student Well-Being Opinion No, ‘Brain Rot’ Isn’t Ruining My Generation: What This Student Wants You to Know
Instead of viewing chaotic online humor as a problem to solve, educators should embrace it as an opportunity to connect.
Angel Galicia Mendoza
5 min read
A grid of various mouths speaking.
Vanessa Solis/Education Week + iStock/Getty images
Student Well-Being What Do Schools Owe Students With Traumatic Brain Injuries?
Physicians say students with traumatic brain injuries can fall through the cracks when returning to school.
8 min read
Anjali Verma, 18, takes an online calculus class after her occupational therapy appointment at the Doylestown Library in Doylestown, Pa., on Dec. 5, 2024.
Anjali Verma, 18, takes an online calculus class after her occupational therapy appointment at the Doylestown Library in Doylestown, Pa., on Dec. 5, 2024.
Michelle Gustafson for Education Week
Student Well-Being School Leaders Confront Racist Texts, Harmful Rhetoric After Divisive Election
Educators say inflammatory rhetoric from the campaign trail has made its way into schools.
7 min read
A woman looks at a hand held device on a train in New Jersey.
Black students—as young as middle schoolers—have received racists texts invoking slavery in the wake of the presidential election. Educators say they're starting to see inflammatory campaign rhetoric make its way into classrooms.
Jenny Kane/AP
Student Well-Being Download Traumatic Brain Injuries Are More Common Than You Think. Here's What to Know
Here's how educators can make sure injured students don't fall behind as they recover.
1 min read
Illustration of a female student sitting at her desk and holding hands against her temples while swirls of pencils, papers, question marks, stars, and exclamation marks swirl around her head.
iStock/Getty