Advisory on ACF Review of Comprehensive Sex Ed Curricula (July 2007)

Reproductive rights are under attack. Will you help us fight back with facts?

First published online:

In June 2007, the federal Administration for Children and Families (ACF) released a poorly conducted report on the content and effectiveness of nine comprehensive sex education curricula. The ACF’s report should not be viewed or described as a credible or unbiased assessment of the content of comprehensive sex education curricula.

  • The ACF’s content analysis would never pass peer review by an established journal. Its rudimentary approach simply counted how often 89 words or phrases were used in each curriculum, a methodology that significantly undercounts the extent to which the programs addressed topics that go beyond the very limited word identification.
  • Despite the study’s overall bias against comprehensive sex education, its literature review acknowledges that seven of the eight examined comprehensive sex education curricula had positive impacts on delaying sexual debut and/or increasing condom use among sexually active teens; it also found that the "medical accuracy of comprehensive sex education curricula is nearly 100%."