NEISD – SexEd Curriculum Review – 2023
Material review available through Friday, April 21, 2022. READ MATERIAL TO LEAVE COMMENTS HERE
Bullet point list of comments & concerns parents can share on the SHAC curriculum review website and/or email to SHAC@NEISD.net:
Choose The Best is not right for NEISD because it:
•shows videos of teens who got pregnant and gives the impression that they will lose the rest of their lives which makes kids who watch it feel like they were a “mistake” if conceived when their mom was a teen
•contains fake stories of teen pregnancy situations to groom children to choose “a way out” of teen pregnancy
•promotes a “me now, baby later” attitude that enables sexual activity and that elective abortion is a “viable” option
•indirectly implies that elective abortion is a solution from the doom and gloom of an unwanted, unplanned pregnancy
•vilifies previous teens who got pregnant (and chose life) in order to get the wrong message across
•collaborates with an abortion mindset as a remedy for teen pregnancy
•makes babies and future students born out of wedlock or of a teen mother seem undesirable, unpopular, unloved
•has the philosophy of sex outside of marriage is okay as long as you are “safe” by using harmful contraceptives that can kill a baby
•makes permissible sex that is not healthy for young people or non-married couples
•does not promote virtue
•shames students who have been sexually active or possibly sexually abused
•does not encourage children to talk to their parents
Questions and observations that need to be answered and addressed by CTB:
•CTB tagline is “The Leader In Abstinence-Centered SRA Education” but it is really an abstinence-plus curriculum. What does abstinence-plus mean? Plus what? Plus contraception including chemical contraception/abortifacients, and abortion?
•How does Choosing The Best address students who have been sexually abused? Do they feel less than the best?
•What is the evidence that Choosing The Best has a desirable long term behavioral outcome?
•Why isn’t CTB curriculum on UT Health list of evidence-based programs?
•CTB 2016 research paper conclusion:
“In a randomized study design, with schools as the unit of randomization, the study demonstrated that, in two communities that supported and sought an abstinence-focused approach, CTB “Journey” resulted in significant short-term impact on ninth-graders’ commitment to abstinence, proabstinence beliefs and attitudes, and intentions to remain abstinent. Among pretest virgins, there was a lower onset of sexual intercourse by the end of ninth grade. Among students already sexually active, there was a short-term treatment effect on intentions, but not sexual behavior. “
Conclusion: Only a short-term effect achieved by CTB with virtuous, non-sexually active 9th grade students.
•Why does CTB 2016 research show increased contraception use, but effect on abstinence is not measured? READ HERE
•Of the 6 research papers on CTB listed on youth.gov teen pregnancy prevention review website, 5 show no evidence of effectiveness and 1 research paper shows mixed results with increased contraception use. Does CTB effectively empower students to choose abstinence as the expected standard of behavior as required in Texas? READ MORE CONTENT HERE
What kind of training does CTB require for health teachers prior to teaching the curriculum versus other curriculums?
How does the effectiveness evidence of CTB compare with Heritage Keepers? READ MORE ON HERITAGE KEEPERS HERE
Heritage Keepers
Heritage Keepers program does not allow changes, which is what parents want.
3 research trials on Heritage Keepers, each showing increasing level of effectiveness.
Heritage Keepers website says they do not sell curriculum without certification to teach it. Parents want teachers who are trained to teach very sensitive subjects that can effect their whole lives.
Heritage Keepers website says the curriculum is based on a lot of theory and methodology. Maybe that’s why their research is so strong that the curriculum is on the US Health and Human Services evidence-based list.
Did publishers give SHAC a comparison of the curriculum to the Health TEKS? If yes, why wasn’t this?
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SexEd curriculum observations and questions:
- SexEd should teach biology and anatomy NOT groom for sexual activity
- SexEd curriculum should provide the message of abstinence as good and healthy for them in keeping with Ed. Code 28.004 as well as to help them understand that pregnancy is natural consequences of sexual activity and might very well lead to STD’s
- Parents want to know and deserve to know exactly what will be in the curriculum
- Parents do not want NEISD policy to allow flexibility for Sex Ed teachers to pick and choose what they want to show or not
- Parents want to know that the NEISD has selected specifics of what will be taught in SexEd before they “Opt In”
- Parents want to be educated on the Library “Opt Put” of Sexually-Oriented Books including online access.
Why is the online access of SOBs an “Opt Out” program where children are automatically included for access to SOBs instead of “Opt In” like the SexEd Curriculum program is (which is more appropriate)?
- Parents want virtue taught in SexEd like the NEISD does in all its other curriculum
- Parents want all curriculum, especially SexEd curriculum to help them protect from harm and harmful lifestyle activities, lead to virtue, and provide good example for their children
- NEISD students deserve a clear message about abstinence. What does “Abstinence-focused” mean? What does “Abstinence-Plus focused”mean?
- Abstinence-based curriculum is the only sure way to protect children aka Sexual Risk Avoidance (SRA) and complies with the TX Education Code.
Why are non-abstinence curriculums advertised as Abstinence-Plus, Abstinence-Centered or Abstinence-Focused?
Are Abstinence-Centered and Abstinence-Focused just new terms for Abstinence-Plus? Plus what? Plus contraception including chemical contraception/abortifacients, and abortion?
- Why are online sex education resources important to the SHAC? Is it appropriate or safe to teach students about sex from a computer?
- Do health teachers recommend reproductive health and clinic services to students?
- Are students referred to medical services NEISD Health classes?
- What clinics are students referred to if they are concerned about STDs or pregnancy?
- If a student is concerned about STDsor pregnancy, what is the procedure for health teachers?
- SHAC could recommend a choice to parents. A dual program that allows parents to choose a proven evidence-based an abstinence-until-marriage curriculum such as Heritage Keepers and an abstinence-focused curriculum (like CTB)?
- Will SHAC and BOT consider allowing SAFA to teach Heritage Keepers at a school as a pilot program?
- The SHAC recommendation needs to represent the values of the parents in NEISD. NEISD is inside family city USA. San Antonio was established by a seed of faith planted here on the feast day of St. Anthony. Any curriculum condoning, enabling, or promoting sexual activity before marriage is not virtuous but filled with vice, unhealthy bad habits and this directly contradicts the mission of San Antonio and the NEISD.
- How does sex ed help children learn the important basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic?
- Does the State of Texas allow NO SEX ED CURRICULUM? Meaning is it optional? If so, it would be best to make it optional for the NEISD and not require it to graduate.
NEISD *Sex Education Curriculum* https://linktr.ee/neisdshac
Login using this link, username and password:
https://choosingthebestonline.com/videos
U/N: Parent@neisd.net P/W: NEISDspring23
Then leave your comments at this link NEISD SHAC feedback form:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdgxkLlQVmimJfvfyWerXvNkSySJnDaKb1hmt9NANpERiMgYg/viewform
More explanation on CTB research
CTB 2016 research paper conclusion:
“In a randomized study design, with schools as the unit of randomization, the study demonstrated that, in two communities that supported and sought an abstinence-focused approach, CTB “Journey” resulted in significant short-term impact on ninth-graders’ commitment to abstinence, proabstinence beliefs and attitudes, and intentions to remain abstinent. Among pretest virgins, there was a lower onset of sexual intercourse by the end of ninth grade. Among students already sexually active, there was a short-term treatment effect on intentions, but not sexual behavior. “ READ MORE HERE
Conclusion
In a randomized study design, with schools as the unit of randomization, the study demonstrated that, in two communities that supported and sought an abstinence-focused approach, CTB “Journey” resulted in significant short-term impact on ninth-graders’ commitment to abstinence, prob-stinence beliefs and attitudes, and intentions to remain absti-nent. Among pretest virgins, there was a lower onset of sexual intercourse by the end of ninth grade. Among students already sexually active, there was a short-term treatment effect on intentions, but not sexual behavior. The study was designed to determine the effectiveness of the CTB abstinence education curriculum, as compared with the typical health textbook approach to discussion of abstinence. It was not designed to study the overarching question of whether abstinence education is more or less effective than other approaches. Rather, it was designed to test the effectiveness of this curriculum on a range of outcomes, within two communities that sought an abstinence message for their high school students and which were within a state that requires an abstinence emphasis.
As educational theories and data demonstrate, long-term changes in skills, attitudes, and behaviors are rarely achieved with short-term approaches, but require repetition, reinforce-ment, and increasing complexity. The CTB program was designed for developmentally phased and sequenced lessons in multiple grades. This study measured a single-year’s intervention only and demonstrated positive short-term effects on ninth graders who were not yet sexually active. Future studies should include multiple years of intervention, beginning in earlier grades, to determine if this particular abstinence program can demonstrate a longer term impact on sexual activity
Conclusion: Only a short-term effect achieved by CTB with virtuous, non-sexually active 9th grade students.
•Why does CTB 2016 research show increased contraception use, but effect on abstinence is not measured? READ CONTENT HERE