Sex Ed and Sexual Violence Prevention
WV FREE believes that youth deserve to be taught age-appropriate, medically accurate, sex ed, and sexual violence prevention information so they can be equipped to make important decisions for their lives.
Working to Institutionalize Sex Education (WISE) is a national initiative working to support educators to offer sex ed. Sex ed is age and developmentally appropriate and provides students with information on anatomy and physiology, relationships, decision‐making, interpersonal violence, . Sex ed also addresses both abstinence and medically accurate information about sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and reproductive health.
In 2012, West Virginia was selected to become a WISE state due to a favorable policy climate for sex ed implementation. WISE in WV works to implement school-based sex ed and sexual violence prevention programming in grades K-12 and build the capacity within schools to sustain programming over time.
- WV FREE has trained teachers in 33 out of 55 counties (60%)
- Almost 25,000 students have been served with new or improved sex ed (LFA data 2019)
- WV FREE has trained 528 educators
- “I just started teaching. This helped me be more comfortable and confident in teaching this information.”
- “Wonderful presentation! Great presenters, I really learned a lot. I think every educator needs this training.”
- “I love that this isn’t just about sex. It’s about family, accurate info, respect, healthy choices, and developing a lifetime of healthy relationships.”
- “A little girl came to me after the sexual exploitation lesson and told me she had been abused by her uncle. She was able to go to her parents after the abuse and put a stop to it. “5th-grade teacher-Summers county
- “Finally! A training that will be helpful for me!”- elementary teacher, Wayne county
- “I was very impacted by the amount of knowledge I gained. The presenters were passionate about the content which kept my attention.”- Kanawha county educator
WV college and career readiness standards for wellness education cover information around prevention, treatment, and spread of HIV and other STI’s as well as information about consent, healthy relationships, and sexual violence.