Sexuality education in fifth and sixth grades in US public schools, 1999

Context: While policymakers, educators and parents recognize the need for f amily life and sexuality education during children's formative years and be fore adolescence, there is little nationally representative information on the timing and content of such instruction in elementary schools. Methods: In 1999, data were gathered from 1,789 fifth- and sixth-grade teac hers as part of a nationally representative survey of 5,543 public school t eachers in grades 5-12. Based on the responses of 617 fifth- and sixth-grad e teachers who said they teach sexuality education, analyses were carried o ut on the topics and skills sexuality education teachers taught, the grades in which they taught them, their teaching approaches, the pressures they e xperienced, whether they received support from parents, the community and s chool administrators, and their needs. Results: Seventy-two percent of fifth- and sixth-grade teachers report that sexuality education is taught in their schools at one or both grades. Fift y-six percent of teachers say that the subject is taught in grade five and 64% in grade six. More than 75% of teachers who teach sexuality education i n these grades cover puberty, HIV and AIDS transmission and issues such as how alcohol and drugs affect behavior and how to stick with a decision. How ever, when schools that do not provide sexuality education are taken into a ccount, even most of these topics are taught in only a little more than hal f of fifth- and sixth-grade classrooms. AN other topics are much less likel y to be covered. Teaching of ail topics is less prevalent at these grades t han teachers think it should be. Gaps between what teachers say they are te aching and teachers' recommendations for what should be taught and by what grade are especially large for such topics as sexual abuse, sexual orientat ion, abortion, birth control and condom use for STD prevention. A substanti al proportion of teachers recommend that these topics be taught at grade si x or earlier. More than half (57%) of fifth- and sixth-grade sexuality educ ation teachers cover the topic of abstinence from intercourse-17% as the on ly option for protection against pregnancy and STDs and 40% as the best alt ernative or one option for such protection. Forty-six percent of teachers r eport that one of their top three problems in teaching sexuality education is pressure, whether from the community, parents or school administrators. More than 40% of teachers report a need for some type of assistance with ma terials, factual information or teaching strategies. Conclusions: A large proportion of schools are doing little to prepare stud ents in grades five and six for puberty, much less for dealing with pressur es and decisions regarding sexual activity. Sexuality education teachers of ten feel unsupported by the community, parents or school administrators.