Category
Sexual Health Education General—ES
Category
Sexual Health Education General—ES
State law addresses at least one component of a comprehensive sex education curriculum, appropriate to grade level.
Comprehensive Health and Physical Education FAQ
FAQ address sexual health education.
New Jersey Statutes 18A:35-4.20 Sex education programs to stress abstinence.
Any sex education that is given as part of any planned course, curriculum or other instructional program and that is intended to impart information or promote discussion or understanding in regard to human sexual behavior, sexual feelings and sexual values, human sexuality and reproduction, pregnancy avoidance or termination, HIV infection or sexually transmitted diseases, regardless of whether such instruction is described as, or incorporated into a description of “sex education,” “family life education,” “family health education,” “health education,” “family living,” “health,” “self esteem,” or any other course, curriculum program or goal of education, and any materials including, but not limited, to handouts, speakers, notes or audiovisuals presented on school property concerning methods for the prevention of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS), other sexually transmitted diseases and of avoiding pregnancy, shall stress that abstinence from sexual activity is the only completely reliable means of eliminating the sexual transmission of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases and of avoiding pregnancy.
New Jersey Statutes 18A:35-4.21 Abstinence from sexual activity stressed in curriculum.
The board of education shall include in its family life and HIV/AIDS curriculum instruction on reasons, skills and strategies for remaining or becoming abstinent from sexual activity. Any instruction concerning the use of contraceptives or prophylactics such as condoms shall also include information on their failure rates for preventing pregnancy, HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases in actual use among adolescent populations and shall clearly explain the difference between risk reduction through the use of such devices and risk elimination through abstinence.
New Jersey Statutes 18A:35-4.38 Incorporation of age-appropriate instruction relative to consent for physical contact and sexual activity.
A school district shall incorporate age-appropriate instruction in grades six through 12 on the law and meaning of consent for physical contact and sexual activity as part of the district's implementation of the New Jersey Student Learning Standard in Comprehensive Health and Physical Education. The instruction shall be designed to increase discussion and awareness that consent is required before physical contact or sexual activity, as well as the social, emotional, and relational impact surrounding sexuality, the right to say no to unwanted physical contact or sexual activity, and the virtues of respecting the right of others to say no. The Commissioner of Education shall provide school districts with age-appropriate sample learning activities and resources designed to implement this requirement.
New Jersey Teen Prevention Education Program
Site provides information on New Jersey Teen Prevention Education Program (Teen PEP), a statewide sexual health promotion and peer education initiative that enables high school students to make healthy decisions.
Teen Pregnancy Prevention
Site provides information on NJ PREP Personal Responsibility Education Program, a school- and community-based comprehensive sexual health education program for youth aged 10-19.