States use them to inform their own guidelines. Despite their name, these are not mandated. This is the approach taken by the groups that have crafted the National Sex Education Standards, last updated in 2020. It includes topics like gender roles and identity, consent, healthy relationships, and sexual diversity presented in the context of social and emotional skills.
This is basically the term of art for a more holistic approach towards sex education that goes beyond abstinence or risk prevention. What’s ‘comprehensive sex education’ anyway? “Because when kids feel confident in their skills, they’ll act in more healthy ways,” said Judy LoBianco, the supervisor of health and physical education for the Livingston public schools in New Jersey. Instead they favor an approach that emphasizes informed decisionmaking, risk management, and self-advocacy. Now, health researchers and practitioners have tried to shift away from trying to frighten kids away from behavior that carries any risk. Abstinence continues to be a core theme of this programming. There are no national sex education mandates, but historically, federal funding for health education has shaped what’s covered in the classes.
And it’s still left up to school districts to craft teaching materials or to hire outside organizations to provide curriculum and training. Many states do set some parameters for sex ed., usually in legislation, but these guidelines are still pretty sketchy-often framed in terms of what educators can’t mention (abortion, same-sex relationships) than what they should mention.
It’s frequently the subject of intense local debates, in part because sexuality education is probably the most local of all curriculum topics in schools: Sex education is not mandatory in all of the states, which means it’s often up to school districts to decide whether-and how-to offer it. Here are some answers to common questions about the latest flare-ups. And in both states, the revisions have sparked complaints-often specifically about what the standards say about LGBTQ issues and on sexual identity. The perennially touchy issue of sex education has erupted again-this time in states not known for being especially prudish about the topic.īoth Illinois and New Jersey rolled out changes to health and sex education standards this school year.
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