adolescent sexual health: 
SEXUAL HEALTH education

​It is critical to teach young people from early childhood through adolescence about healthy sexual development and provide them with the developmentally appropriate knowledge to support good decision-making.  Sexual health education is required in Rhode Island as part of an overall health curriculum, and our health educators should be given the professional development and tools to make them effective and
​confidenct in passing this knowledge on to adolescents. 

​Health education curriculum in Rhode Island must be aligned with both: 

• The Rhode Island Health Education Framework 
• RIDE Comprehensive Health Instructional Outcomes

​
​Requirements for health education in Family Life & Sexuality, HIV/AIDS, and ​Teen
Dating Violence in Rhode Island are outlined in:

• RI Rules & Regulations for School Health Programs                                                          (Section 4.7 - A.7, A.8 and A.15b)

For a summary of the sexual health education portions of these documents, see:

• RI Sexual Health Education Requirements SUMMARY  (RIHSC)

Helpful Websites

• The Future of Sex Education Initiative (FoSE)   The Future of Sex Education Initiative (FoSE) seeks to create a national dialogue about the future of sex education and to promote the institutionalization of comprehensive sexuality education in public schools.  FoSE is a partnership among:  
  • ​Answer: Sex Ed, Honestly  Answer is a national organization that provides and promotes unfettered access to comprehensive sexuality education for young people and the adults who teach them.  They are dedicated to ensuring young people have the knowledge and skills they need to be happy, healthy and safe well into the future. This means they should be able to access age-appropriate and medically-accurate information about sexuality directly, and without interference.
  • Advocates for Youth  Since 1980, Advocates for Youth has worked with youth leaders to ensure that all young people's rights are respected and that we have the tools we need to protect ourselves from STIs, HIV, and unintended pregnancy.
  • SIECUS: Sex Ed for Social Change   SIECUS: Sex Ed for Social Change has been a leader in advancing shame-free, science-based, and inclusive sex education as SIECUS for the past 55 years. 
• National Coaltion of STD Directors  The National Coalition of STD Directors (NCSD) is a partnership of public health professionals dedicated to the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). NCSD provides dynamic leadership that strengthens STD programs by advocating for effective policies, strategies, and sufficient resources and by increasing awareness of their medical and social impact. 

Curriculum, Lesson Plans & Professional Development Resources

• ​Curriculum 
  • RI sexual health curriculum must be based on RI Health Education Framework,  RIDE Comprehensive Health Instructional Outcomes, and RI Rules & Regulations for School Health Programs (Section 4.7 - A.7, A.8 and A.15b).
  • National Sex Education Standards   In this updated second edition released in March 2020, the goal is to provide clear, consistent and straightforward guidance on the essential minimum, core content for sexuality education that is developmentally and age-appropriate for students in grades K–12​​.
  • The Health Education Curriculum Analysis Tool (HECAT)   (CDC) HECAT ​is an assessment tool to help school districts, schools, and others conduct a clear, complete, and consistent analysis of health education curricula based on the National Health Education Standards and CDC’s Characteristics of an Effective Health Education Curriculum.
  • Developing a Scope and Sequence for Sexual Health Education  (CDC) Assists education agencies in identifying a curriculum, including what students should know and when it should be taught for each grade or grade group to lower students’ risk of HIV, STD, and pregnancy; also available as a shorter 2-page fact sheet
  • The Professional Learning Standards for Sex Education (SEICUS)   The PLSSE is the newest set of standards designed to help improve educators’ ability to effectively address sexuality in the classroom. There is also a companion PLSSE assessment tool, designed to help identify needs for professional development and/or technical assistance among those who teach or will teach sex education. 
• Lesson Plans
  • ​Advocates for Youth 3 Rs Curriculum: Rights, Respect, Responsibility  K-12 Lesson Plans
    • High School Lesson 5: Fantasy or Reality? How Sexually Explicit Media Affects How We See Relationships
  • ​Answer: Sex Ed, Honestly  Lesson Plans and Professional Development 
  • Be Real. Be Ready. – Smart Sex Ed  (Adolescent Health Working Group)   A​ comprehensive relationship and sexuality curriculum for high school students that is science-informed, skills-based, LGBTQ-inclusive, medically accurate, and designed to meet the California State Health Educational Content Standards
  • FLASH (Public Health – Seattle & King County)  Widely used sexual health education curriculum for elementary, middle, high school and special education classrooms
  • Amaze.org   Innovative, free, age-appropriate, quick videos on a range of sexual health topics
• Professional Development
  • Healthy Teen Network Teacher's Guide to Sex Ed  The Teacher’s Guide has 8 units to cover the basics of what you need to know. Go through all 8, or pick and choose what works best for you. Review the units in any order, at your own pace.
  • Sex Education Collaborative Training Hub  brings together, in one convenient place, access to trusted national, regional, and state-based sex education training, technical assistance, policy support and other resources.

Reference Documents

• Rhode Island’s Sex Education Snapshot (SEICUS.org: Sex Ed for Social Change)​
• 19 Critical Sexual Education Topics (CDC)