Sexuality Education

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The Guidelines for Comprehensive Sexuality Education, Public Support For Sexuality Education, The National Coalition to Support Sexuality Education, Evaluation/Research, Sexual Health Promotion Programs, Sexuality Education Curricula, Additional Resources, HIV/AIDS Content Notice, Training Modules

Sexuality Education

State Mandates for Sexuality Education

Comprehensive, school-based sexuality education that is appropriate to a student’s age, developmental level, and cultural background is an important part of preparing young people for adulthood and is a critical component in promoting sexual health. Many states mandate sexuality education and/or HIV/AIDS education for their students. These mandates provide a legal basis for the implementation of comprehensive programs. It is important to note that mandates do not necessarily result in a program in every school. The enforcement of these mandates has not been determined or evaluated.

SIECUS has prepared State Profiles showing which states currently mandate sexuality education and/or HIV/AIDS/STD education.

SIECUS’ Public Policy Department recently analyzed state sexuality laws and sexuality education laws to determine whether each state was supportive of sexual health and sexual rights. Read these summaries.

Additional Resource

STATESERV, National Conference of State Legislatures

Stateserv is a project of the National Conference of State Legislatures, in cooperation with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). This project provides Internet access to state laws and information related to HIV, STDs, school health and adolescents. The Web site houses a database of laws related to adolescent health, sexuality education, and abstinence education that have been enacted by states in recent years. This database allows visitors to search laws by state or by topic. http://www.stateserv.hpts.org/

Web Master: siecus@siecus.org