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National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
Healthy Youth
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National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Healthy Youth Healthy Youth Home | Contact Us |
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Publications The Handbook for Evaluating HIV Education Introduction School districts across the nation have responded to the threat of AIDS by preparing students with the knowledge, attitudes, and skills they need to avoid infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). In many locales, HIV-related education and infection control policies have been established, curriculum guidelines developed, and educators trained in the delivery of effective HIV prevention education. Based on a recent study of school districts nationwide, 67% required HIV education for students, 90% provided teacher preparation in the area of HIV education, and 71% reported that a school/community advisory committee had been established for the review of HIV education materials. This level of commitment to the provision of HIV education is a necessary and impressive response to the AIDS epidemic. Local HIV prevention efforts are further supported by Healthy People: National Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Objectives. These national health objectives for the year 2000 that call for reducing the proportion of adolescents who have engaged in sexual intercourse by age 15 and by age 17 (objectives 5.4, 18.3, 19.9), reducing the proportion of ever sexually active adolescents who abstain from sexual activity for the previous 3 months (objective 5.5), and increasing the proportion of sexually active adolescents who used a condom at last sexual intercourse (objectives 18.4, 19.10). The CDC is working with national, state, and local health and education agencies to help attain these objectives, as well as to decrease the proportion of 9th-12th grade students who use injected drugs. While considerable effort is being expended on school-based HIV prevention education, little data is available yet to suggest whether these programs are having their intended effect. Are these programs successful in reducing HIV-risk behaviors among students? Can these programs be improved to become even more effective? To answer these questions, objective evaluations of the impact of HIV prevention programs must be undertaken. To support the efforts of educators to evaluate the quality of their HIV prevention programs, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and its contractor, IOX Assessment Associates, developed this handbook. The CDC strongly encourages its cooperative agreement recipients to use these materials in the design of HIV program evaluations. Cooperative agreement recipients are also encouraged to share these materials and encourage their use with local departments of education and schools throughout their jurisdiction. This handbook includes evaluation designs and measurement tools necessary to collect data on the basic program components of policy development, curriculum design, teacher training, and student outcomes. While the handbook cannot serve all evaluation purposes, it reflects the need to evaluate the basic, most central aspects of HIV prevention programs. The
Booklets It is imperative that those involved in the design and delivery of HIV
education programs assume the professional responsibility to evaluate and
document the extent to which HIV programs have actually worked. We hope
that this handbook will contribute to your efforts to conduct such
evaluations. For further information on the use of these booklets, please
contact your state HIV coordinator or your CDC project officer.
Division of Adolescent and School Health |
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Appreciation is expressed to the following individuals who, having reviewed one or more of these materials while under development, offered constructive suggestions for their improvement. Members of the Project Advisory Panel: Leigh Burstein, UCLA Graduate School of Education; Michael Goodstadt, Addiction Research Foundation, Toronto, Canada; Harry Handler, UCLA Graduate School of Education; John J. Stiglmeier, New York State Education Department; Ricky Takai, U.S. Department of Education; Leonard Tritsch, Health Issues Consultant; Herbert J. Walberg, University of Illinois at Chicago; and Barbara Williams, Westat, Inc. Members of the Developmental Review Panel: Rolf Blank, Council of Chief State School Officers; W. Richard Bull, Jr., Accomack County Schools (Virginia); Carmen Cardona, U.S. Department of Education; Anita Cohen, The National PTA; Constance T. Cordovilla, American Federation of Teachers; Edward Fletcher, San Diego City Schools; Katherine Fraser, National Association of State Boards of Education; Brenda Z. Greene, National School Boards Association; Gwendolen C. Ingraham, American Association of School Administrators; Debra Sandau-Christopher, Colorado State Department of Education; Spencer Sartorius, Montana Office of Public Instruction; and James H. Williams, National Education Association. Teachers and administrators, who provided assistance reviewing and testing items as part of evaluations for local purposes: Patricia Nichols of the Michigan Department of Education; Mel Karnehm of the Grand Rapids Public Schools; Eugene Tucker and his colleagues from the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District in California; and Charles Matus of the Washington Unified School District in West Sacramento, California. Government officials of the Division of Adolescent and School Health, Centers for Disease Control, the agency sponsoring the development of these materials: Stephen Banspach, Janet Collins, Lisa Daily, Michael Dalmat, Kathy Douglas, Cindee George, Jack Jones, Lloyd Kolbe, John Moore, Deborah Rugg, Lynn Short, and Ben Truman. IOX reviewers and editors: Francine Alexander, Molly Hetrick, Susan King, Jason Millman, Sarah Stanley, and Douglas Tonks. Clearly, any shortcomings in the materials are the responsibility of
the authors, not the reviewers. |
