Sex education in the inner city. Learning and retention

Benson, M.D.; Perlman, C.; Sciarra, J.J.; Benson, M.D; Perlman, C; Sciarra, J.J

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Sex education in the inner city. Learning and retention

Benson, M.D.; Perlman, C.; Sciarra, J.J.

JAMA 255(1): 43-47

1986

ISSN/ISBN: 0098-7484

PMID: 3940303

Document Number: 284284

The Discovery program, initiated in 1982, includes two separate one-hour presentations on sex education. It is presented by medical student volunteers to children in the seventh and eigth grades of inner-city public schools. A study including 1,133 youngsters demonstrated a 32% improvement in scores with excellent retention. A control group of 126 students tested three times who did not hear the program demonstrated no learning from the test alone. Socioeconomic status, grade, and sex all influenced the level of knowledge prior to instruction but did not affect the degree of learning. Searches of the medical and educational literature reveal that this appears to be the most thoroughly investigated sex education course in the United States for any grade level. In view of its low cost and ease of implementation, the progaram could well serve as a model for junior high school sex education curricula in other school systems.