- Evanston/Skokie School District 65
- Sexual Health Education
Sexual Health Education
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The goal of sex education is to help young people navigate sexual development and grow into sexually healthy adults.
To be effective, we build a foundation in grades K-4 by providing Personal Health and Safety Education, which covers topics such as safe touches, bullying and friendships, different kinds of families, and basic anatomy. In grades 5-8, sex education includes medically accurate information about a broad range of topics, such as consent and healthy relationships; puberty and adolescent development; sexual and reproductive anatomy and physiology; gender identity and expression; sexual identity and orientation; interpersonal and sexual violence; contraception, pregnancy, and reproduction; and HIV and other STDs/STIs.
Quality sex education goes beyond delivering information. It provides young people with opportunities to explore their own identities and values along with the values and beliefs of their families and communities. It also allows young people to practice the communication, negotiation, decision-making, and assertiveness skills they need to create healthy relationships—both sexual and nonsexual—throughout their lives. (National Sex Education Standards, p. 6).
The instruction provided by District 65 is in alignment with Public Act 102-0522, the Comprehensive Personal Health and Safety and Sexual Health Education Act, which requires the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) to adopt theāÆNational Sex Education Standards as the Illinois Learning Standards for sexual health education. These standards were adopted on June 14, 2022.
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Curriculum, Lessons, & Instructional Materials
Curriculum Guide
The District 65 curriculum guide for comprehensive sexual health (K-8). This document is primarily designed for educators and may be helpful for parents who wish to know more about our curriculum.
Discipline Scope and Sequence
The scope and sequence is contained in the curriculum and contains links to all of the lessons taught as a part of comprehensive sex education in District 65.
Instructional Materials
The primary instructional material to support D65 sex education lessons is the 3 Rs (Rights, Respect and Responsibility). -
Family Resources
What resources can help me learn more and potentially use with my child to help our conversations?
Amaze.org has several short videos that are a simulated "parents group" talking about their kids and sex education. A few that families may find helpful include:
Amaze.org (Parents) is also a helpful website for parents/guardians with a lot of videos and parent guides for specific topics and questions at different ages.
TeensHealth is also an excellent site for students or families to access reliable and developmentally appropriate information on a variety of topics related to comprehensive sexual health.
The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) website provides guidance and resources for school districts and parents/guardians. Visit the ISBE website for more resources that are directed towards parent(s)/guardian(s) and their child(ren)'s age range.
The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) has developed a one-page document in multiple languages to help describe the importance of sexual health education to families:
- English
- Arabic
- Chinese (Simplified)
- Chinese (Traditional)
- Gujarati
- Hindi
- Filipino (Tagalog)
- Polish
- Russian
- Spanish
- Urdu
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Family Opt Out Option
District 65 is providing comprehensive sexual education instruction to the students of District 65 in alignment with the IL School Code.
Parents/guardians may opt their child(ren) out of instruction as provided by the school code. Families who wish to opt their child out of the instruction must provide this preference to the classroom teacher in writing. The classroom educator will send a notification of the instruction be provided as a letter to families annually. A family may write a letter at any time to the educator requesting to opt their child out of sex ed instruction.
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Contact
To contact the Curriculum and Instruction Department, please call (847) 859-8032. To reach a specific member of the Curriculum & Instruction Team, please visit our staff directory and search 'Curriculum & Instruction Department'.
Comprehensive Sexual Health Overview
A brief overview of Comprehensive Sexual Health in District 65
Educación De La Salud Sexual
Resumen de la educación de la salud sexual del Distrito 65
Why comprehensive sex education?
Sex education - what is it and why is important? (Unesco)