The medical staff consulted with child psychologists, attorneys, and educators to design a new program that was both accurate and appropriate for middle school students. After consultation with parents and school officials, the focus of the program was on consequences of teen sexual activity, the importance of delaying sexual intimacy, character development, and encouraging the ability to refuse sexual advances (Sulak et al.) Comparing before-and-after surveys of the students' knowledge and attitudes, statistically significant greater numbers said that sexual activity should be postponed, not only until after high school, but also until after marriage (Sulak et al.) Another study looked at two middle school sex education programs, one that emphasized risk reduction by promoting delayed sexual activity and the use of condoms, and another that emphasized risk avoidance by abstaining from sex until marriage (Doskoch, 2012). The two programs were presented in 7th and 8th grads, with five schools in one city doing one program and five schools in the same city doing the other. Five additional schools served as a control group and received the regular health education curriculum for that school district. The study found that only the risk reduction program reduced the number of students having sex by the 9th grade, and those students in the risk avoidance program were more likely to have had multiple sexual partners by 9th grade. Both programs had some positive impacts, but telling students not to have sex at all was the least effective method of sex education in this study (Doskoch). Studies such as these indicate that by following the Commonwealth Board of Education guidelines and developing medically accurate and thoughtfully designed sex education programs that consider the facts of sexuality, community attitudes, and community ethos can result in an effective sex education program that has a positive impact on the students.
