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03.13.2015
Resources

School Health Equity Newsletter June 2014

Advocates for Youth NewsletterJUNE 2014

Feature: National Teacher Preparation Standards for Sexuality Education

In an unprecedented unified effort, the nation’s leading sexual health education organizations have come together to release The National Teacher Preparation Standards on Sexuality Education. These standards were created to provide guidance to institutions of higher education in order to better prepare undergraduate physical and health education teachers to deliver sexuality education in school settings. The National Teacher Preparation Standards address seven broad professional areas:

  • Standard 1: Professional Disposition
    Teacher candidates demonstrate comfort with, commitment to, and self-efficacy in teaching sexuality education.
  • Standard 2: Diversity and Equity
    Teacher candidates show respect for individual, family, and cultural characteristics and experiences that may influence student learning about sexuality.
  • Standard 3: Content Knowledge
    Teacher candidates have accurate and current knowledge of the biological, emotional, social, and legal aspects of human sexuality.
  • Standard 4: Legal and Professional Ethics
    Teacher candidates make decisions based on applicable federal, state, and local laws, regulations and policies, as well as professional ethics.
  • Standard 5: Planning
    Teacher candidates plan age- and developmentally-appropriate sexuality education that is aligned with standards, policies, and laws and reflects the diversity of the community.
  • Standard 6: Implementation
    Teacher candidates use a variety of effective strategies to teach sexuality education.
  • Standard 7: Assessment
    Teacher candidates implement effective strategies to assess student knowledge, attitudes, and skills in order to improve sexuality education instruction.

With these standards, teacher-preparation programs will be able to guide curriculum, instruction, and assessment decisions among their undergraduate students who will eventually be responsible for teaching sexuality education. For more information about the Standards and to download the full document, click here.

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Capacity Building and Professional Development

Why Gender Stereotypes are Bad for Adolescent Health: New Research Insights to Improve Programs & Care for Teens. This webinar will feature Dr. Bryn Austin from the Harvard School of Public Health and Professor Sophie Godley from Boston University School of Public Health. The webinar will cover research findings on gender expression among teens and the pitfalls of gender stereotyping for their health and wellness as well as how research can and must inform our designed of programs and policies for adolescents. The webinar will be held on June 18, 2014 at 12:00-1:00pm EST. To register for the webinar click here.

Successful Teen Pregnancy Prevention: Connecting Clinical Care and Community Interventions. Research demonstrates that clinical and educational contraceptive services as well as behavioral interventions are needed to reduce the rate of teen pregnancy. In this webinar, Title X-funded family planning providers shared lessons learned about how to provide high quality clinical services to teens. Providers also described ways that clinical providers and community-based organizations that provide behavioral interventions can work together to reach and effectively serve teens in their communities. To access the archived webinar, click here.

Moving Beyond Clients: Creating Effective Youth-Adult Partnerships. This webinar introduces adult service providers to the core concepts of Youth-Adult Partnerships, such as adultism, adult ally, and youth leadership, as well as discuss concrete ways youth service providers can increase their capacity to build effective partnerships with youth at all levels – agency wide, within programs, and in individual interactions. To view the archived webinar and resources, click here.

Funding Opportunities

“Now is the Time” Project AWARE Local Educational Agency Grants. The purpose of this program is to assist local educational agencies to begin to support the training of school personnel and other adults who interact with youth in both school settings and communities to detect and respond to mental illness in children and youth, including how to encourage adolescents and their families experiencing these problems to seek treatment. The application deadline is Monday, June 16, 2014. For more information about this grant opportunity and to apply, click here.

“Now is the Time” Project AWARE State Educational Agency Grants. The purpose of the NITT-AWARE-SEA Cooperative Agreement program is to build and expand the capacity of State Educational Agencies to increase awareness of mental health issues among school-aged youth, provide training for school personnel and other adults who interact with school-aged youth to detect and respond to mental health issues in children and young adults, and connect children, youth, and families who may have behavioral health issues with appropriate services. The intent of NITT-AWARE-SEA is to develop a comprehensive, coordinated, and integrated program for advancing wellness and resilience in educational settings for school-aged youth. For more information about this grant opportunity and to apply, click here.

Resources

Providing Quality Planning Services: Recommendations of CDC and the U.S. Office of Population Affairs. This report provides recommendations developed collaboratively by CDC and the Office of Population Affairs (OPA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The recommendations outline how to provide quality family planning services, which include contraceptive services, pregnancy testing and counseling, helping clients achieve pregnancy, basic infertility services, preconception health services, and sexually transmitted disease services. To access the full report, click here.

Tools for School-Based Health Center Sustainability. The School-Based Health Alliance has organized tools, resources, and recommendations proven to help school-based health centers (SBHCs) build a stable foundation. For more information about the tools, check out the School-Based Health Alliance’s issue brief, Engineering Sustainable School-Based Health Centers.

Recent Publications

2012 School Health Profiles. The CDC’s Division of Adolescent and School Health has released two 2012 School Health Profiles (Profiles) products. The release includes a fact sheet for each state, large urban school district, territory, and tribal government that reports results from the 2012 Profiles. It also includes a PowerPoint presentation that presents state results, by quartiles, on a U.S. map. To access both resources, click here.

CDC Vital Signs: Preventing Pregnancies in Younger Teens. While teen births in the US have declined over the last 20 years to their lowest level ever recorded, more than 86,000 teens ages 15 to 17 gave birth in 2012. This factsheet provides an outline of the issue as well as strategies on preventing pregnancies in younger teens including what actions doctors, nurses, and other health professional can take. To read the factsheet, click here.

Motivational barriers to retention of at-risk young adults in HIV-prevention interventions: perceived pressure and efficacy. Multi-session HIV-prevention interventions are efficacious, but depend on the retention of clients over time. In this study, researchers investigated three potential motivational barriers that might affect the likelihood of retention for at-risk young adults. Researchers found that when young people feel pressured or coerced to make lifestyle or behavioral changes during the intervention they frequently go on the defensive and are less likely to return for the follow-up session that ensure such programs’ efficacy. For more information about this article, click here.

Announcements

Broward School Board Approves Sex Ed Overhaul. The newly approved Family Live and Human Sexuality policy ensures that all students are receiving the same level of education as their peers across the US. In addition, the new comprehensive curriculum aims to reduce sexually transmitted diseases and teen pregnancies through prevention learning and access to contraception. To read the full story, click here.

Thousands of Tucson kids are skipping sex ed. Data provided Tucson-area public school districts show thousands of students are not taking sex education classes. Currently, the state of Arizona does not mandate sex education. In addition, state law requires students to “opt in” to take sex education meaning parents must take an extra step of providing consent for their children to take the course. In some school districts, such as the Marana Unified School District, schools do not have a sexuality education curriculum because it is not required by the state. To read the full article, click here.

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To submit an article, announcement, or resource for the School Health Equity Newsletter, please call Jennifer at 202.419.3420 ext. 12 or email her at jennifer@advocatesforyouth.org.

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