Since January 2012, New York City public schools have been mandated to provide sexual health education in middle and high school as part of comprehensive health education. Nonetheless, anecdotal reports from students suggest that their sex education was inadequate. Twenty-seven students in a large community college in New York City participated in…

Objectives: To test the ACE-Plus curriculum, a two-session program that teaches males in foster care and/or preventive services about correct and consistent condom use, and engagement with female partners to obtain and use contraception. Methods: Nine foster care agencies in New York City randomly assigned 223 males aged 16-20 to the ACE-Plus…

The reasons for peer education's ascendance as a core pedagogy in sex education are as much historical as they are reasonable or ethical. This article traces the history of peer-led sex education from the 1970s to the 1990s against the backdrop of New York City's financial ruin, social unrest, and a public health crisis. Starting with an analysis…

Background: With recent recommendations from professional organizations, long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) methods are considered appropriate first-line contraception for adolescents. Many school-based health centers (SBHCs) in New York City (NYC) have recently added onsite LARC insertion and management to their contraceptive options. We…

Background: School-based pregnancy prevention programs should optimally be offered while students are still engaged in school since early disengagement is strongly associated with risk of a teen birth. Methods: We used linked New York City birth and enrollment data (2005-2013), a sample of 6,809 teen mothers (mean age conception = 16.2 years). We…

There is growing consensus that sexual health education should be inclusive of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning students, and students of various identities on the spectrums of sexuality and gender (LGBTQ+). However, to date, the perspectives of LGTBQ+ teenagers of colour remain under-investigated. Twenty-five in-depth…

We present an organizational capacity building program that is a systemic approach to training professionals, creating organizational policies and practices, and enhancing the physical environment with materials about sexual and reproductive health. The evaluation of four different organizations showed increases over six months in: staff reports…

The New York Civil Liberties Union's Teen Activist Project (TAP) and Youth Organizing Institute are peer educator and organizing programs for high school students in New York City. In recent years, students from both programs have identified bullying and harassment and the lack of comprehensive sex education as major problems in New York City…

Many public school districts across New York State provide sex-ed instruction that is inaccurate, incomplete and biased. This report examines sex-ed materials used during the 2009-2010 and 2010-11 school years from across New York State. Among the New York Civil Liberties Union's (NYCLU's) key findings: (1) Lessons on reproductive anatomy and…

This document presents a revised curriculum guide for New York City public schools' Family Living including Sex Education programs. It is intended to serve teachers, supervisors, administrators, and parents. Schools are encouraged to use it as a basic guide for developing their own course outlines. The introduction presents program goals,…

The 1985-86 implementation of the comprehensive, sequenced curriculum called Family Living Including Sex Education Program in the New York City public schools is evaluated in this document. Curriculum content includes human growth and development, family relationships, friendship, reproduction, decision-making, child sexual abuse, and acquired…

This document contains supplementary material related to acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) to accompany New York City public schools' Family Living including Sex Education programs. It presents the concept that sexual health care is the responsibility of each individual. A teacher information section provides information on AIDS.…

Surveys of 110 inner-city Hispanic adolescent girls referred for psychiatric assessment and their mothers found that the quality of mother/daughter communication in general was more useful in predicting onset of sexual experiences than aspects of later sexual experiences. However, specific communication about sexuality was not related to…

This document contains supplementary material related to helping children protect themselves from sexual abuse to accompany New York City public schools' Family Living including Sex Education programs. For grades prekindergarten through grade two and grades three through four, it presents the concept that protecting oneself is an important part of…

Until recently, teen pregnancy and birth rates had declined steadily in the United States in recent years. Despite these declines, the United States has the highest teen birth rate and one of the highest rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among all industrialized nations. To help young people reduce their risk for pregnancy and STIs,…