CHART Policy 2012

CHART PAGE CONTENTS

• About C.H.A.R.T.
• Model Policy
• Funding for Curricula, Training, and Technical Assistance
• Advocacy
• CHART Districts

About C.H.A.R.T.

Teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are major public health issues in the state of Mississippi. Our state teen birth rate—64.1 births for every 1,000 teenage (15-19-year- old) girls in 2009—is the highest in the nation. Mississippi also leads the nation in teen infection rates for gonorrhea and Chlamydia. These alarming rates have far-reaching consequences. Teen mothers are less likely to complete high school, adding to an already troubling school dropout crisis. Children of teen parents are more likely to grow up below the poverty line, have lower academic achievement, and drop out of school. Teen childbearing also affects local economies through increased need for public services and decreased lifetime earnings for teen parents. Finally, teenagers infected with gonorrhea and Chlamydia face a greater risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. The tremendous need to reduce teen birth rates and sexually transmitted infection rates is undeniable.

Mississippi First began the Creating Healthy and Responsible Teens (CHART) Initiative in the summer of 2010 as a means to improve teen sexual health and increase responsible decision-making. The CHART Initiative is two-fold: 1) the development of policy tools, especially a model policy, enabling school districts to provide comprehensive, or "abstinence-plus," sex education programs which are evidence-based, age-appropriate, and medically accurate; and 2) local school district adoption of the CHART Initiative, beginning with the CHART Model Policy, by school districts in counties with the highest rates of teen birth and sexually transmitted infections. Mississippi First is also partnering with the Mississippi State Department of Health to use federal dollars from the Personal Responsibility Education Program to provide school districts the curricula, training, and technical assistance necessary to implement CHART. In March 2011, Mississippi was awarded over $2M to implement CHART with PREP funds.

While CHART was moving forward, the Mississippi Legislature passed House Bill 999, which requires school districts to adopt a sex education policy by June 30, 2012. Per the law's mandate, school districts must adopt either an "abstinence-only" policy or an "abstinence-plus" policy. The law also sets forth other restrictions on the teaching of sex education in public schools, such as the separation of boys and girls during sex education. As a result, Mississippi First amended aspects of the CHART Model Policy to meet the requirements of House Bill 999. CHART is once again moving forward with advocacy efforts to support local school district adoption of the new CHART policy in our target school districts.

For more information about CHART or to participate in CHART advocacy, please email Deputy Director Sanford Johnson at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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Model Policy

To participate in CHART, school districts must adopt an "abstinence-plus" sex education policy such as the CHART Model Policy that Mississippi First developed for this purpose. The policy has been reviewed and approved by the Bureau of Community and School Health at the Mississippi State Department of Health and is also posted for district use on the Office of Healthy Schools' website at the Mississippi Department of Education.

Please contact Sanford Johnson at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for help with the policy.

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Funding for Curricula, Training, and Technical Assistance

With the passage of House Bill 999, school districts must adopt and implement a sex education policy. However, the bill provided no additional funding to school districts to carry out this mandate. Fortunately, the hard work of Mississippi First and the Mississippi State Department of Health to secure federal Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) dollars will allow districts choosing to implement CHART to do so at no cost. PREP will pay for districts to receive curricula, training for relevant staff, and on-going technical assistance from the Mississippi State Department of Health's Bureau of Community and School Health.

Districts hoping to receive resources funded by PREP must first adopt an "abstinence-plus" sex education policy. Then districts must commit to implementing a curriculum on the Mississippi State Department of Health’s list of approved curricula, which are drawn from the 28 evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention interventions recommended by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Since House Bill 999 requires all school-based sex education curricula to be approved by the Mississippi Department of Education, the curricula on the Mississippi State Department of Health's list are tentative pending approval from the Mississippi Department of Education. The Mississippi Department of Education's Office of Healthy Schools is currently reviewing submitted curricula, and we expect the Mississippi State Department of Health's choices to be on the list of approved resources. ONLY curricula on both the Mississippi Department of Education's and the Mississippi State Department of Health's lists will be eligible for CHART implementation.

Mississippi Department of Health List of Approved Curricula 

Middle School Programs

Draw the Line/Respect the Line

High School Programs

Reducing the Risk

State Department of Health List of Recommended Curricula (Pending Approval from the Mississippi Department of Education)

Elementary School Programs

None

Middle School Programs

It's Your Game: Keep it Real

Promoting Health Among Teens (PHAT)

High School Programs

Becoming a Responsible Teen (BART)

To participate in CHART, please email Deputy Director Sanford Johnson at  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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Advocacy

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