Alabama State Profile Fiscal Year 2010
|
Sexuality Education Law and Policy | Recent Legislation | Youth Sexual Health Data | Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative | Personal Responsibility Education Program | Title V Abstinence-Only Program | TPPI, PREP, and Title V Abstinence-Only Funding in FY 2010 | Comprehensive Approaches to Sex Education | Points of Contact | Organizations that Support Comprehensive Sexuality Education | Organizations that Oppose Comprehensive Sexuality Education | Media Outlets | References
Alabama
In Fiscal Year 2010[1], the state of Alabama received:
In Fiscal Year 2010, local entities in Alabama received:
Alabama state law does not require the teaching of sexuality education, however, a resolution adopted by the Board of Education in 1987 does require that students in grades five through 12 receive instruction about AIDS through a health education program. Should schools choose to offer additional sexuality education, the Code of Alabama sets minimum requirements for what must be taught, but specific content is developed locally. Among other things, the code requires sex education classes to tell students that:
The Code also states that:
In addition to this code, the Alabama Course of Study: Health Education provides the foundation for the minimum content requirements for topics such as HIV, STDs, and pregnancy prevention. The sexuality topics covered include “societal expectations of remaining abstinent until married,” the “physical, social, and emotional effects” of STDs, disease transmission, responsible decision-making, and refusal skills, among others.[4]
Parents or guardians may remove their children from sexuality education and/or STD/HIV education classes. This is referred to as an “opt-out” policy.
SeeAlabama State Code Section 16-40A-2, the Alabama Course of Study: Health Education, and the Resolution to Provide Information to Students to Prevent the Spread of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome Disease in the Public Schools of Alabama.
SIECUS is not aware of any proposed legislation regarding sexuality education in Alabama.
SIECUS has compiled the following data to provide an overview of adolescent sexual health in Alabama. The data collected represents the most current information available.
Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) Data[5]
Teen Pregnancy, Birth, and Abortion
HIV and AIDS[11]
Sexually Transmitted Diseases
The President’s Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative (TPPI) funds medically accurate and age-appropriate programs to reduce teen pregnancy. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Adolescent Health (OAH) administers the grant program, which totaled $110 million in discretionary funding for Fiscal Year 2010. TPPI consists of two funding tiers that provide grants to local public and private entities. Tier 1 totals $75 million and provides funding for the replication of evidence-based programs proven to prevent unintended teen pregnancy and address underlying behavioral risk factors. Tier 2 totals $25 million and provides funding to develop and test additional models and innovative strategies. A portion of the Tier 2 funds, $15.2 million, was allocated for research and demonstration grants to test innovative approaches, while the remaining funding, $9.8 million, was allocated for grants to support communitywide initiatives. TPPI also dedicates $4.5 million in funding to conduct evaluations of individual programs.
TPPI Tier 1: Evidence-Based Programs
The TPPI Tier 1 grant program supports the replication of evidence-based programs proven effective through rigorous evaluation to prevent unintended teen pregnancy, underlying behavioral risk factors, or other associated risk factors.
Macon County Board of Education, $426,172 (2010−2014)
The Macon County Board of Education (MCBOE) is a Tier 1 grantee located in Tuskegee, Alabama. MCBOE oversees the Macon County School District, which consists of seven schools (Booker T. Washington High School, D.C. Wolfe Elementary School, George Washington Carver Elementary School, Lewis Adams Early Childhood Center, Notasulga High School, Tuskegee Institute Middle School, and Tuskegee Public Elementary School), serving nearly 2,800 PK–12 students.[21] The school district is using its funds to implement Teen Outreach Program, a youth development curriculum with a sexuality education component, and Making a Difference!, an abstinence-based youth development curriculum. MCBOE implements Teen Outreach Program in three schools, Booker T. Washington High School, Notasulga High School, and Tuskegee Institute Middle School, and at two community-based organizations, the Tuskegee Area Health Education Center and the Tuskegee-Macon County YMCA. The program serves African-American youth ages 12–18. The Making a Difference! Program will target African-American students ages 11–13 at D.C. Wolfe Elementary School, Tuskegee Institute Middle School, and Notasulga High School.
Teen Outreach Program (TOP) is an evidence-based youth development program that engages young people in experiential learning activities in order to “prepare for successful adulthood and avoid problem behaviors.”[22] The program is designed for youth ages 12–17 and focuses on reducing rates of school failure, school suspension, and teen pregnancy. TOP consists of a nine-month curriculum that addresses such topics as relationships, peer pressure, decision making, values clarification, goal-setting, adolescent development, and sexual health.[23] It also includes a 20-hour community service component that engages participants in activities to enhance knowledge and develop skills, including self-efficacy, communication, conflict-management, and self-regulation. TOP can be administered as an in-school, after-school, or community-based program. The program is proven effective in preventing teen pregnancy and increasing academic success among participants. An evaluation of the program published in Child Development found that young women, ages 15–19, who participated in TOP were significantly less likely to report a pregnancy during the program than participants in the control group.[24]
Making a Difference! is an evidence-based pregnancy-, STD-, and HIV-prevention education curriculum that emphasizes abstinence from sexual activity. Adapted from the evidence-based curriculum, Be Proud! Be Responsible!, Making a Difference! aims to increase participants’ knowledge about HIV/STD and pregnancy prevention as well as their confidence to negotiate sexual pressure and intention to abstain from sex. It is designed for use with African-American, Latino, and white adolescents ages 11–13 and can be implemented in school- or community-based settings. The curriculumincludes interactive activities, small group discussions, and skill-building exercises, including role-plays, aimed to increase comfort and efficacy with practicing abstinence. An evaluation of the curriculum published in the Journal of American Medical Association found, at a three-month follow-up, that participants in the program were less likely to report having had sexual intercourse in the three months prior than peers in the control group. Findings also show that the program helped to delay sexual initiation among program participants who were sexually inexperienced.[25]
MCBOE partners with the Macon County Department of Human Resources (DHR), the Macon County Health Department, Tuskegee Area Health Education Center, and the Tuskegee-Macon County YMCA in implementation. The Macon County DHR and the Health Department will provide participants with related health care, such as family planning and STD testing.[26] Participants will also have access to other social services, such as the JOBS Program, a welfare-to-work initiative established by the Alabama DHR.[27] MCBOE plans to reach approximately 600 youth annually with its TPPI program.
TPPI Tier 2: Innovative Approaches
The TPPI Tier 2 grant program supports research and demonstration programs in order to develop, replicate, refine, and test additional models and innovative strategies for preventing teenage pregnancy.
TPPI Tier 2: Communitywide Initiatives
The TPPI Tier 2 grant program also supports communitywide initiatives to reduce rates of teenage pregnancy and births in communities with the highest rates. The program awards grants to national organizations as well as state- and community-based organizations. Funded national partners provide training and technical assistance to local grantees. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) administer the grant program in partnership with OAH.
The Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) totals $75 million per year for Fiscal Years 2010−2014 and is the first-ever dedicated funding stream for more comprehensive approaches to sexuality education. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families (ACF) administers the grant. PREP includes a $55 million state-grant program, $10 million to fund local entities through the Personal Responsibility Education Innovative Strategies (PREIS) Program, $3.5 million for Indian tribes and tribal organizations, and $6.5 million for evaluation, training, and technical assistance. Details on the state-grant program and PREIS are included below. At the time of publication, the funding for tribes and tribal organizations had not yet been awarded.
PREP State-Grant Program
The PREP state-grant program supports evidence-based programs that provide young people with medically accurate and age-appropriate information for the prevention of unintended pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). The grant program totals $55 million per year and allocates funding to individual states. The grant does not require states to provide matching funds. Funded programs must discuss abstinence and contraception, and place substantial emphasis on both. Programs must also address at least three of the following adulthood preparation subjects: healthy relationships, positive adolescent development, financial literacy, parent-child communication skills, education and employment skills, and healthy life skills.
The Alabama PREP state-grant program will serve youth ages 15–19 in community-based settings. The program will use Reducing the Risk and six sessions of Love U2 Relationship Smarts to participants. Alabama PREP will address the following adulthood preparation subjects: healthy relationships, including parent-child communication; adolescent development; and healthy life skills.
Reducing the Risk: Building Skills to Prevent Pregnancy, STD and HIV is an evidence-based, sexuality education curriculum designed for classroom use with students in the ninth and tenth grades. It is appropriate for use with multi-ethnic populations.[28] Reducing the Risk aims to reduce high-risk behaviors among participants and emphasizes strategies for abstaining from sex or practicing safer sex. The 16-lesson curriculum addresses both abstinence and contraception use and includes experiential activities that teach students to develop refusal, negotiation, and communication skills. An evaluation of the program published in Family Planning Perspectives found that it increased parent-child communication, especially among Latino youth, delayed the initiation of sexual intercourse, and reduced incidence of unprotected sex among lower-risk youth who participated in the program.[29]
Love U2 Relationship Smarts is part of the Love U2 abstinence-only-until-marriage curricula series that also includes Love U2 Dating Smarts, Love U2 Baby Smarts, Love U2 Communication Smarts, and Love U2 Becoming Sex Smart. It is described as a “series of units that help young people acquire practical skills for emotionally healthy and ethically sound relationships.”[30] The curricula series is produced and distributed by The Dibble Institute for Marriage Education, a non-profit organization based in Berkeley, California that focuses on “teaching young people healthy romantic relationship skills.”[31]
Love U2 Relationship Smarts is designed for students in grades nine–12 and includes information and skill-building activities to impart youth with the “knowledge necessary for making wise relationship choices.”[32] The 13-lesson curriculum addresses such topics as, maturity, values clarification, peer pressure, attractions and infatuation, principles of smart relationships, and “the nature of true intimacy,” among others.[33] The curriculum also focuses on preventing dating violence as well as communication and conflict resolution skills. Love U2 Relationship Smarts aims to motivate teens “to make wiser relationship and sexual choices by examining the consequences of early and unwed pregnancy...” It addresses such issues as the role of fathers, the needs of children as they relate to pregnancy prevention and the importance of remaining abstinent, cohabitation, the benefits of marriage, research findings on partner selection, and marital successes and failures.”[34] The curriculum is currently being evaluated as part of a large-scale study conducted by Auburn University, and supported by a federal, five-year Healthy Marriage Initiative demonstration grant (Fiscal Years 2005–2010).
The Alabama Department of Public Health has issued a Request for Proposal for available PREP funds. Community-based organizations, including local health departments, from the following counties were eligible to apply: Bibb, Calhoun, Chilton, Cleburne, Colbert, Coosa, Covington, Cullman, Dallas, Etowah, Franklin, Greene, Jackson, Jefferson, Lamar, Lawrence, Lowndes, Marshall, Montgomery, Perry, Pickens, Sumter, Talladega, Tallapoosa, Tuscaloosa, and Walker. At the time of publication, proposals for funding had not yet been approved.[35]
Personal Responsibility Education Innovative Strategies (PREIS)
The PREIS Program supports research and demonstration programs to develop, replicate, refine, and test innovative models for preventing unintended teen pregnancy. ACF administers the grant program in collaboration with OAH and provides a total of $10 million in funding directly to local public and private entities.
The Title V State Abstinence Education Grant Program (Title V Abstinence-Only Program) allocates $50 million per year to states for Fiscal Years 2010−2014. ACF administers the grant program. The Title V Abstinence-Only Program requires states to provide three state-raised dollars or the equivalent in services for every four federal dollars received. The state match may be provided in part or in full by local groups. All programs funded by the Title V Abstinence-Only Program must promote abstinence from sexual activity as their exclusive purpose and may provide mentoring, counseling, and adult supervision toward this end. Programs must be medically accurate and age-appropriate and must ensure abstinence is an expected outcome.
The state’s Title V abstinence-only program provides instruction to sixth and seventh grade students in school- and community-based settings and also provides outreach to youth ages 12–18 and their parents. Through the program, local entities will administer the Managing Pressures before Marriage (MPM) curriculum to students in grades six and seven. The curriculum, Media Madness, will be offered to youth in other grades and their parents. In addition, the Alabama Department of Public Health will administer a project-wide program on STDs. Programming will be provided upon request to school districts in the following counties: Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Chambers, Choctaw, Coffee, Conecuh, Crenshaw, Dale, Dallas, DeKalb, Elmore, Escambia, Hale, Lee, Marengo, Marion, Mobile, Monroe, Pike, Russell, Tuscaloosa, and Wilcox. The state director for the Department of Public Health will determine what program is used and assure the medical accuracy of all curriculum materials.
Managing Pressures before Marriage is an abstinence-only-until-marriage curriculum adapted from Postponing Sexual Involvement, a peer education human sexuality curriculum.[36] Produced by the Jane Fonda Center at Emory University, the curriculum includes five, one-hour lessons that address the potential negative consequences of early sexual activity. The curriculum discusses the influence of the media and peer pressure on early sexual involvement and provides students with skill-building exercises in order to combat these pressures. A program enhancement includes homework assignments for students to complete with their parents, which are designed to increase parent-child communication.[37]
Managing Pressures before Marriage is designed to meet all eight points of the federal definition for “abstinence education,” which teaches, among other concepts, that abstinence from sexual activity outside of marriage is “the expected standard for all school-age children;” “that a mutually faithful monogamous relationship in the context of marriage is the expected standard of sexual activity;” and that “sexual activity outside the context of marriage is likely to have harmful consequences for the child, the child’s parents, and society.”[38]
Also produced by the Jane Fonda Center, Media Madness is a media literacy and health education intervention for teens. The curriculum aims to help young people critically evaluate the purpose of the media and its influence on sexual behavior. Skill-building exercises encourage teens to examine their own beliefs and values, set limits for sexual expression, and to resist media and peer pressure.[39]
SIECUS is not aware of any examples of model programs, policies, or best practices being implemented in Alabama public schools that provide a more comprehensive approach to sex education for young people.
We encourage you to submit any updated or additional information on comprehensive approaches to sex education being implemented in Alabama public schools for inclusion in future publications of the SIECUS StateProfiles. Please visit SIECUS’ “Contact Us” webpage at www.siecus.org to share information. Select “state policy” as the subject heading.
Adolescent Health Contact[40]
Sandy Powell
Alabama Department of Public Health
MainOffice RSA Tower
201 Monroe St., Suite 1350
Montgomery, AL 36104
Phone: (334) 206-2901
PREP and Title V Abstinence-Only Grant Coordinator
Sandy Powell
Alabama Department of Public Health
MainOffice RSA Tower
201 Monroe St., Suite 1350
Montgomery, AL 36104
Phone: (334) 206-2901
Newspapers in Alabama[41]
Political Blogs in Alabama
[1] This refers to the federal government’s fiscal year, which begins on October 1st and ends on September 30th. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, Fiscal Year 2010 began on October 1, 2009 and ended on September 30, 2010.
[2] Ala. Code §§ 16-40A-2(a)(1) and (2), accessed 1 July 2011,
[3]Ala Code § 16-40A-2(b); Ala. Code §§ 16-40A-2(c)(1)–(2), (8). Regarding the provision that students must be informed that homosexual conduct is a criminal offense, the United States Supreme Court handed down a decision inLawrence v. Texas that declared state laws criminalizing homosexual behavior to be unconstitutional in 2003, <http://www.legislature.state.al.us/CodeofAlabama/1975/16-40A-2.htm>.
[4] Alabama Course of Study: Health Education (Birmingham, AL: Alabama Department of Education, 2003), accessed 19 April2010, <https://docs.alsde.edu/documents/54/HE1_INT.rtf>.
[5] Danice K. Eaton, et. al., “Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance—United States, 2009,” Surveillance Summaries, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, vol. 59, no. SS-5 (4 June 2010): 98–109, accessed 4 June 2010, <http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/pdf/ss/ss5905.pdf>.
[6]“Births: Final Data for 2008,” National Vital Statistics Report, vol. 59, (Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, December 2010), accessed 29 June 2011, <http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr59/nvsr59_01.pdf>., Table 12.
[7]“VitalStats: Birth Data Files by State, Age of Mother in Years, 2008,” (Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), accessed 30 June 2011, <http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data_access/vitalstats/VitalStats_Births.htm>.
[8] U.S. Teenage Pregnancies, Births, and Abortions: National and State Trends and Trends by Race and Ethnicity, (Washington, DC: Guttmacher Institute, January 2010), accessed 5 March 2010, <http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/USTPtrends.pdf>, Table 3.1.
[9] Ibid., Table 3.2.
[10] U.S. Teenage Pregnancies, Births, and Abortions: National and State Trends and Trends by Race and Ethnicity, Table 3.3
[11] This section provides data from 2008, the most recent year for which the CDC has reported HIV/AIDS data for young people ages 13–19. For this reason, all the data presented is from 2008 for the purposes of direct comparison.
[12] HIV Surveillance Report, 2008, (Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, June 2010), accessed 28 June 2011, <http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/surveillance/resources/reports/2008report/pdf/2008SurveillanceReport.pdf>, Table 19.
[13] Ibid.
[14] Slide 9: “Rates of Diagnoses of HIV Infection among Adolescents Aged13–19 Years, 2009—40 States and 5 U.S. Dependent Areas,” HIV Surveillance in Adolescents and Young Adults, (Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, July 2011), accessed 27 September 2011, <http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/surveillance/resources/slides/adolescents/index.htm>.
[15] HIV Surveillance Report, 2008, Table 20.
[16] Ibid.
[17] Slide 18: “Rates of AIDS Diagnoses among Adolescents Aged 13–19 Years, 2009—United States and Dependent Areas,” HIV Surveillance in Adolescents and Young Adults, (Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, July 2011), accessed 27 September 2011, <http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/surveillance/resources/slides/adolescents/index.htm>.
[18] “Wonder Database: Selected STDs by Age, Race/Ethnicity, and Gender, 1996-2008 Results,” (Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 30 June 2009), accessed 5 March 2010, <http://wonder.cdc.gov/>; see also Table 10: “Chlamydia: Reported Cases and Rates Per 100,000 Population by Age Group and Sex: United States, 2004–2008,” Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance 2008, (Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of STD Prevention, November 2009), accessed 5 March 2010, <http://www.cdc.gov/std/stats08/surv2008-Complete.pdf>, 95.
[19] Ibid; see also Table 20: “Gonorrhea—Reported Cases and Rates per 100,000 Population by Age Group and Sex: United States, 2004–2008,” Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance 2008,106.
[20] Ibid; see also Table 33: “Primary and Secondary Syphilis—Reported Cases and Rates per 100,000 Population by Age Group and Sex: United States, 2004–2008,” Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance 2008, 121.
[21] “About MCPS: Macon County Public Schools,” Macon County Schools, 2011, accessed 21 April 2011, <http://www.maconk12.org/About_MCPS.cfm>.
[22] Saras Chung and Annie Philipps, Promoting Mental Health and Well-being in Adolescents: Recommendations for Wyman’s Teen Outreach Program, (Eureka, MO: Wyman Teen Outreach Program, 2010), accessed 1 July 2011, <http://www.wymantop.org/pdfs/TOP_Positive_Well-Being.pdf>, 3.
[23] Ibid, 9.
[24] “Pregnancy Prevention Intervention Implementation Report: Teen Outreach Program,” Programs for Replication – Intervention Implementation Reports, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, accessed 1 July 2011, <http://www.hhs.gov/ash/oah/prevention/research/programs/teen_outreach_program.html>.
[25] “Making a Difference!” Evidence-Based Programs, Resource Center for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention (ReCAPP), ETR Associates, accessed 1 July 2011, <http://www.etr.org/recapp/index.cfm?fuseaction=pages.ebpDetail&PageID=127&PageTypeID=2>.
[26] “Macon schools receive federal grant to assist in pregnancy prevention,” The Tuskegee News.
[27] “JOBS Program,” Alabama Department of Human Resources, accessed 21 April 2011, <http://www.dhr.state.al.us/services/Family_Assistance/JOBS_Program.aspx>.
[28] Science and Success: Sex Education and Other Programs That Work to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, HIV & Sexually Transmitted Infections (Washington, DC: Advocates for Youth, 2008), accessed 30 March 2010, <http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/storage/advfy/documents/sciencesuccess.pdf>, 22.
[29] Ibid., 23–24.
[30] “Love U2,” The Dibble Institute, accessed 1 July 2011, <http://www.dibbleinstitute.org/?page_id=1095>.
[31] “Mission, Vision, Core Values,” The Dibble Institute, accessed 1 July 2011, <http://www.dibbleinstitute.org/?page_id=157>.
[32] “Love U2: Relationship Smarts PLUS,” The Dibble Institute, accessed 1 July 2011, <http://www.dibbleinstitute.org/?page_id=495>.
[33] Ibid.
[34] “Love U2 Relationship Smarts Plus – more details,” The Dibble Institute, accessed 1 July 2011, <http://www.dibbleinstitute.org/?page_id=1908>.
[35] Information provided by Sandy Powell, Adolescent/School Health Coordinator for the Alabama Department of Public Health, Bureau of Family Health Services, 15 June 2011.
[36] Science and Success: Sex Education and Other Programs That Work to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, HIV & Sexually Transmitted Infections (Washington, DC: Advocates for Youth, 2008), accessed 1 July 2011, <http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/storage/advfy/documents/sciencesuccess.pdf>, 10–12.
[37] “Enhanced Managing Pressures before Marriage,” Child Trends (2003), last updated 24 May 2007, accessed 1 July 2011, <http://www.childtrends.org/Lifecourse/programs/EnhancedMPM.htm
[38] “Managing Pressures before Marriage,” Jane Fonda Center, Emory University, accessed 1 July 2011, <http://janefondacenter.emory.edu/education/managing.cfm>; see also Title V Section 502(c)(1)(B)(ii) of the Social Security Act [42 U.S.C. § 710], accessed 1 July 2011, <http://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/ssact/title05/0510.htm>.
[39] “Media Madness,” Jane Fonda Center, Emory University, accessed 1 July 2011, <http://janefondacenter.emory.edu/projects/mm.cfm>.
[40] The person listed represents the designated personnel in the state responsible for adolescent reproductive health.
[41] This section is a list of major newspapers in the state and is by no means exhaustive of local print outlets.
|
Click Here for Printer Friendly Version (PDF)
