Sex Education in California Public Schools: Are Students Learning What They Need To Know?

Abstract:

Despite recent improvements, California teenagers continue to have rates of unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STI) that would be considered a crisis in many countries. In fact, teen birth rates for California are higher than those for every other Western democracy in the world.1 This raises the question of whether the state's public schools are adequately educating young people about their sexual health. This survey of middle and high schools indicates that parents want quality sex education, but that schools' efforts to provide it face many obstacles.