The cover of The Advocate Educator's Handbook

Praise for the Advocate Educator

  • The Advocate Educator’s Handbook establishes a blueprint for creating, in your classroom and your school, the environment of acceptance trans youth need to succeed. This is an important text for educators, parents, and those seeking to build safe and supportive communities for young people - and thankfully, it’s also a well-written, superbly organized, optimistic and loving one.

    John King, Former US Secretary of Education, Chancellor SUNY University System

  • The Advocate Educator’s Handbook is a timely and an important tool in the fight for the basic rights, freedoms, and respect that we all deserve. In an engaging and straightforward manner, this handbook provides educators and allies with the critical resources they need to support trans and non-binary students.

    Becky Pringle, President, National Education Association

  • The Advocate Educator’s Handbook supports the notion that schools have to, first, be safe enough to honor the bravery so many LGBTQ+ students and educators are already demonstrating. Schools that promote a safe and excellent education for all students need this handbook if genuinely committed to living into that promise.

    Tim’m West, Executive Director, LGBTQ Institute at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights.

  • For educators, administrators, school staff, and anyone else who has asked, “How can I best support transgender students?” – this book is for you. The Advocate Educator’s Handbook is scaffolded to meet educators where they are, and is a critical tool for creating safer, more inclusive learning environments for transgender students everywhere.

    Keygan Miller, Director of Public Training , The Trevor Project

  • A modern guide for anyone seeking to boldly support transgender and non-binary students. Resources, reflection, real situations all in one.

    Levi Arithson, Program Manager, LGBTQ+ Equity Initiatives, Denver Public Schools

  • This book could not come at a more critical time. Any youth serving professional or family member looking for tools to advocate for LGBTQ+ youth should read this book. I am grateful for the concrete strategies to ensure LGBTQ+ youth are in environments where they are valued and can be their authentic selves.

    Cheryl Greene, Senior Director, Welcoming Schools, Human Rights Campaign Foundation

  • With its comprehensive and methodical approach to tackling challenging issues facing advocates for transgender rights, this handbook will become a fundamental tool for anybody who works with and serves youth.

    Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen, Executive Director of the National Center for Transgender Equality

  • This is my job in a book! The Advocate Educator’s Handbook is a one-stop shop for all the need-to-know information on supporting trans, nonbinary, and gender expansive youth in schools. It is an invaluable resource for educators and youth-serving professionals who want to implement equitable practices for LGBTQ+ youth.

    Booker Marshall, LGBTQ and Sexual Health Manager, Chicago Public Schools

  • An accessible and comprehensive toolkit that teachers, administrators, policymakers, and parents can use to create more inclusive, affirming, and joyful educational experiences for trans and non-binary youth. Ford and Kling inspire readers to disrupt inequitable policies and practices to better meet the needs of our gender-diverse students.

    Sara Moore, Associate Professor and Chairperson of Sociology, Salem State University

  • As a parent of a trans youth, navigating the school system felt overwhelming and intimidating. This book makes it less so! Every parent of a transgender kiddo should read this book, and feel confident that their child can and should be supported in their schools and by their peers. Every teacher should read this to learn how to support and cultivate an inclusive classroom! This is a must read!

    Lizette Truillo, Parent Advocate

  • Ford and Kling have written one of the most comprehensive tools for educators not only to understand how to help LGBTQ+ thrive, but to understand how to position themselves, as educators, in the journey to understanding, acceptance, and advocacy of their students. Every teacher, counselor, administrator, and parent should know this book.

    Willie Carver, Author of Gay Poems for Red States, 2022 Kentucky Teacher of the Year, Member of the American Federation of Teachers National LGBTQ+ Task Force

  • This book has something that each of us can learn. As states and municipalities across the country pass vastly different policies regarding for transgender and nonbinary children, this book offers steps that each of us can take, within the bounds of our local laws, to support a school atmosphere that allows transgender and non-binary students thrive.

    Kelsey Waits, Activist and Founder of Transparent Alliance

  • A timely and much-needed handbook! EDI (Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) practitioners, consultants, and facilitators like myself —not just teachers and school administrators—learn and benefit greatly from reading and using this excellent guide.

    Yee Won Chong, Senior Racial Equity Fellow, Western States Center or EDI

  • The Advocate Educator's Handbook is beautifully written, clear, comprehensive, specifically helpful, warm, and open...open to human potential, to change, and to more beautiful, meaningful, joyful exchanges in our classrooms, led by, and centered upon, trans joy.

    Joji Florence, Co-Founder of Trans formative Schools

  • This is a wonderful, evidence-based and incredibly important book. It provides practical advice for people to create safe spaces for transgender folks, and is an excellent antidote to the misinformation being spread about transgender kids.

    Wendy Zukerman, science journalist and host of the podcast Science Vs.

Meet the Authors

About Book

With a powerful foreword by Dr. Peggy Brookins, President and CEO of The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, The Advocate Educator’s Handbook: Creating Schools Where Transgender and Non-Binary Students Thrive offers a tested framework for educators to use in their journeys to creating inclusive classrooms and education environments for transgender and non-binary students.
Centered on a framework of four principles – educate, affirm, include, and disrupt –, this book provides a new way of thinking about inclusivity in the classroom, as well as practical ways to foster students’ sense of belonging.


The authors bring rich understanding to the topic as educators themselves, Kling as a transgender educator and advocate and Ford as a teacher and parent of a transgender child. You’ll also read stories from transgender and non-binary students, teachers, researchers, parents, and more, providing unique and important perspectives.


Inside the book, you’ll find practical tools that you can start using on day one. You’ll also find curriculum ideas for teachers and model policies for school administrators and public policymakers, so you can begin the important work of advocating for and with trans and non-binary students.


By engaging with trans youth and allies, we can build inclusivity in and beyond the classroom.

Details

The Advocate Educator’s Handbook: Creating Schools Where Transgender and Non-Binary Students Thrive will help you:

  • Understand what it means to be transgender or non-binary and learn about the experiences of trans youth
    Learn how to support trans and non-binary students, with firsthand accounts from a wide range of experts serving those communities:

  • Find resources you can use as an educator to support you in your journey toward inclusivity

  • Recognize and respond to anti-trans policies and laws targeting trans students

  • Identify important actions unique to your situation with personal reflection questions and scenarios

This book was created especially for K-12 educators, administrators, pre-service teachers and others looking to enact change and create safe spaces for transgender and nonbinary youth.

From daily life in the classroom to policy at the highest levels, The Advocate Educator’s Handbook will help educators & their community work toward meaningful change.

To help us take The Advocate Educator’s Handbook on the road, donate here:

About the Authors

Vanessa Ford

she/her

Vanessa Ford is an award-winning teacher and author and parent to a wonderful transgender child. Ford and her husband JR authored “Calvin” - the 2022 Lambda Literary Winner for best children’s or middle grade book.

Vanessa is also the co-author of the: "The Advocate Educator's Handbook: Creating Schools Where Transgender and Non-Binary Students Thrive” ( Jossey-Bass, January 2024).

Ford’s advocacy work can be found in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, NPR, Newsweek, Today, Good Morning America and National Geographic’s Gender Revolution: A Journey with Katie Couric. Ford sat on the board of The National Center for Transgender Equality from 2017-2019 and is a founding member of HRC’s Parents for Transgender Equality Council.

You can learn more at www.jrandvanessaford.com

Rebecca Kling

she/her

Rebecca Kling is an educator, performer, community organizer, storyteller, and advocate for social change. Rebecca’s art and advocacy work is rooted in a multidisciplinary approach to changing the world, with the understanding that there’s no one ‘right way to communicate’ that will land with everyone.

In 2024, Rebecca received a Lambda Literary Award for her inclusion in the anthology 2 Trans 2 Furious: An extremely serious journal of Transgender Street Racing Studies.

For more than a decade, Rebecca has worked with hundreds of community organizations, civil rights groups, and elected representatives to elevate the experiences of transgender people, and to bring transgender issues into discussions of public education and policy.

Rebecca firmly believes that understanding combats bigotry, and that everyone has the ability to push for a more just and equitable world.

Learn more about Rebecca's work at betterworldcollaborative.com.