Frequently Asked Questions

Yes! Extensive third party research reveals the effectiveness. The CDC recommends that evidence-based programs be used for teen pregnancy prevention and provides a link on their webpage to the US Department pf Health and Human Services Office of Adolescent Health (US HHS OAH) federal list of evidence-based programs, which Heritage Keepers® is on.

• In 2012, the US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Adolescent Health (US HHS OAH) added Heritage Keepers^® to its list of 44 evidence based teen pregnancy prevention programs (based on its 2011 study). More than 1000 research articles from many programs addressing teen pregnancy prevention have been submitted for review, but only 44 met the review criteria that qualifies them as proven effective. Heritage is honored to be recognized among a select few! Heritage Keepers^® is the only program on the US HHS OAH evidence based list that teaches abstinence-until-marriage.

  • 2011 Evaluation: The 2011 study reviewed and approved for the US HHS OAH list was of 2,215 middle and high school students in 41 middle and high schools in urban, suburban and rural communities of South Carolina. The outcomes of the study were strongly positive and long lasting: A year after Heritage Keepers^®, program students initiated sex at a rate 67% lower than well-matched non-program students. Program and non-program students were matched by age, sexual experience and by proven predictors of teen sex. This study was conducted by Stan Weed, PhD of the Institute for Research and Evaluation, and his colleagues.

• 2005 Evaluation: A study published by the US HHS Office of Population Affairs showed that a year after Heritage Keepers^®, program students initiated sex at a rate half that of similar non-program students. These findings were across age, gender and race. Although these 2005 results were strongly significant, the program continued to improve, as evidenced by the sexual initiation rates in the 2011 evaluation.

This assurance means that adolescents receiving the Heritage Keepers^® program receive a program that has proven effective results, which increases the likelihood that the adolescents will not participate in risky behaviors. Many other sex education initiatives claim effectiveness but are not able to document that actual behavioral impact with hard data. By contrast, extensive data collection over a period of more than 20 years, from hundreds of thousands of students, and documented by several third-party studies, reveals that Heritage Keepers^® actually improves psychosocial mediators shown to predict initiation of teen sex. Validated research proves Heritage Keepers^® impacts on the social, psychological and health gains that actually predict sexual risk avoidance a year later, mediating actual health gains that benefit youth, their families and their communities. 

Heritage Keepers^® addresses issues that cross the human spectrum. The extensive third party behavioral studies indicate that significant positive behavioral outcomes were found across age, gender, race, and location (rural, suburban, and urban areas). Therefore, it is effective for ALL populations. 

Heritage Keepers^® is developed upon a foundation of research-based rather than values-based or religious information and resources. The theoretical foundation and methodological approach to the development and implementation of Heritage Keepers^® is based on Dr. Stan Weed’s research on scientifically-derived mediators of teen sex that have been proven to affect behavior and attitudes. The Rationale section of the curriculum briefly summarizes some of the science and rationale that form the foundation of the program rationale, which applies:  

• cognitive educational approaches, such as knowledge and understanding, with

• affective educational approaches, such as personal values and commitment,

• to motivate youth towards a positive behavioral outcome, that is, abstinence from too early sexual activity.

The Heritage Keepers^® program goes beyond knowledge and reaches the adolescents’ emotional and psychological core, a deeper level of intervention that enables adolescents to grasp the social, psychological and health advantages realized by avoiding non-marital sex.

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No. None of the Heritage Keepers® programs are faith-based. The Heritage Keepers® programs are based on science and widely accepted research. Each of the Heritage Keepers® curricula are fully referenced and approved for medical accuracy. Though the curricula are not faith-based, many types of faith organizations (churches, temples, synagogues, etc.) have found that the curricula are compatible with their current teachings about sex.

Yes! The US HHS Administration for Children and Families defines medically accurate information to mean medical information verified or supported by the weight of research conducted in compliance with accepted scientific methods and published in peer-reviewed journals where applicable, or be comprised of information that leading professional organizations and agencies with relevant expertise in the field recognize as accurate, objective and complete.

The content of the Heritage Keepers^® curriculum is referenced by more than 100 publications from educational, scientific, governmental or health organizations. Medical accuracy reviews have involved submitting all research articles and books referenced to determine accuracy and appropriateness of the use of the reference. This depth of review has not been met by many programs that claim medical accuracy. Heritage Keepers^® was developed utilizing federal government websites to assure medical accuracy. Further, the reproduction section was written by Joshua Mann, MD, MPH, Professor and Chair, Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Mississippi School of Medicine and contributing author Joe McIlhaney, MD (Ob/Gyn), founder and President of the Medical Institute. Curriculum review and consultation has been provided by Paul E. Douthit, PhD, LMFT, Texas Tech University School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics; Brooke Burris, Esq., Co-Chair Tricounty Human Trafficking Task Force.

Heritage Keepers^® was originally reviewed and approved for medical accuracy by the HHS Office of Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention (OAPP) in 2008. The Medical Institute for Sexual Health (MISH), a nationally recognized agency specializing in providing medically accurate information related to teen sex has also provided a medical accuracy review and has approved Heritage Keepers^® for medical accuracy each year since 2013. MISH’s most recent approval letter is available upon request. The HHS Family Youth Services Bureau (FYSB) also completed a medical accuracy review and approval in 2022.  The most recent version of the curricula is 2018, which included funding compliance information in the Rationale Section of the teacher’s manual, but the content of the program has remained the same. References are also updated periodically as new research becomes available. Any updates were within the guidelines of allowable adaptations/modifications that US HHS allows for evidence-based programs to continue to claim fidelity to the curriculum.  

Yes! The Heritage Keepers program meets all 66 standards of the SMARTool (Systematic Method for Assessing Risk-avoidance Tool). In fact, the Heritage Keepers program is cited on page 68 of the SMARTool as an example of a sexual risk avoidance abstinence education program that incorporates the evidence-based standards cited in the SMARTool. The program also fulfills ALL of the Title V Section 510 standards for Sexual Risk Avoidance Education. 

Heritage Keepers^® enhances knowledge of physical development and sexual risks, encourages healthy personal relationships, promotes personal attitudes & beliefs that value abstinence, acknowledges and addresses common rationalizations for sexual activity, improves independence from negative peer and social norms, strengthens personal intention and commitment to avoid sexual activity, identifies ways to reduce the opportunities for sexual activity, teaches personal responsibility and self-regulation, promotes healthy decision-making, discourages youth risk behaviors such as drug/alcohol use, and strengthens future goals and opportunities. The Heritage Keepers^® program focuses on the social, psychological, and health advantages of refraining from non-marital sexual activity in order to improve the future prospects, physical health, and emotional health of youth.

Content includes: Definitions of Abstinence and Commitment to Abstinence, sexual abuse and Erin’s Law, determining personal values and goals, integrating personal values with behavior, male and female reproductive systems, video of a developing fetus, the importance of prenatal care, establishing protective boundaries, age of consent and laws protecting minors, human trafficking, benefits of a healthy marriage, building blocks of a healthy marriage, definitions of Lifetime Commitment and Mutually Faithful, STD/STI presentation (focus on Gonorrhea, Chlamydia, Syphilis, Pelvic Inflammatory Disease, Trichomoniasis, Herpes, HPV, HIV—site administrators determine which pictures, if any), contraception efficacy compared with abstinence, demonstration of how STDs spread quickly and without obvious symptoms, how to abstain from sexual activity, student rebuttals to justifications for early sexual activity, differences between love/lust/infatuation, creating lists of character traits for a person to date and a person to marry, developing positive personal character traits, building relationships without having sex, avoiding objectifying or stereotyping, setting and stating boundaries against risky behaviors (sex, alcohol, drugs, social media, etc.), developing a personal S.A.F.E. plan (state boundaries, avoid danger, firmly say no, exit), role plays with SAFE plan to refute and refuse sexual activity, imagining the future making a commitment.

A Summary document of all of the main topics in all of our curricula is available upon request.

Curriculum Certification training includes extensive training in Theory and Methodology, a complete curriculum implementation demonstration, and time for supervised demonstration of capacity to effectively deliver the program. Theory and Methodology include training in topics including (but not limited to): Adolescent Brain Development, Risk Reduction vs Risk Avoidance theories, Transtheoretical Model of Behavior Change, Teaching sexual risk avoidance to all typologies of sexual activity, trauma and trauma-informed/trauma-sensitive approaches, scientifically proven predictors of sexual activity and how to address each in the classroom, Benefits of Marriage, Grit, Darkness to Light’s Stewards of Children Sexual Abuse Prevention and Mandated Reporting, Bloom’s taxonomies for cognitive/affective/ behavioral objectives, Social Intelligence, Emotional Intelligence, Social Learning Theory, increasing self-efficacy in students, classroom management skills, brain-based learning, Institutional Review Board policies regarding confidentiality protection of minors, Motivational Interviewing, Biology of Love, oxytocin and vasopressin, anatomy and reproduction, Medical Institute’s training in sexually transmitted disease and infections, Ascend’s Sexual Risk Avoidance Specialist training, and any applicable state laws and health standards. 

An on-line webinar is available for additional new teachers that require training between “live” certification opportunities. Highly valid and reliable surveys are available that can be used to assess teacher effectiveness in delivery as well as student progress.

Heritage Community Services staff participate in approximately 40 hours of curriculum certification training each year and also receive constant feedback for improvement training so that they are experts in abstinence-until-marriage education. Also, our staff participate annually in trainings, conferences, and technical assistance provided by Ascend, US HHS Family Youth Services Bureau, the Office of Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention, and other professional development opportunities.

Heritage Keepers^® focuses on internal, not external, qualities and ensures its program is sensitive to all youth. Heritage does not believe external qualities (such as race, gender, residence, etc) predict sexual activity; therefore, every student is provided with the same information regardless of their external qualities/demographics. Heritage Keepers^® believes that its message is valuable and applies to everyone regardless of family circumstances, sexual orientation, sexual history, age, race, or gender. The Heritage Keepers^® program does not ask questions, or express a judgment, or seek to influence the beliefs of participants with respect to sexual orientation or gender identity, as those topics are outside of the scope of the purpose of the curriculum. All young people can benefit from the optimal health message of abstaining from non-marital sexual activity.

Heritage Keepers^® is sensitive to families of origin. Many students are in never-married, divorced, cohabiting and/or single-parent families. The program focuses on the students’ potential future families, not their families of origin. Heritage seeks to build up whatever family structure they have been or are currently in. This includes sensitivity to students that already have one or more children, encouraging love and support for them and any children they have, ensuring relevance to a diverse audience. Heritage requires fidelity to the curriculum, which is carefully reviewed for sensitivity. Awareness of the potential impact of word choices is stressed, particularly as related to any past sexual activity, sexual abuse, STDs, and family structure. The intent is for every student to leave believing in their intrinsic value and worth. 

Yes. Many students, including those that are sexually experienced (consensually or as a result of coercion or abuse), benefit from a program that effectively teaches the benefits and skills associated with delaying sexual activity. A “whole person” approach is applied relative to emphasizing a “sense of self” – how students see themselves, what and whom they value, how they relate to others, their future goals, and how they will react to stimuli that are introduced into their lives. Some adults assume that sexually active students should only hear a strong contraception message, but so-called “high risk” students often report they have never even been told about the optimal health message of abstinence. Too often they have been labelled unfairly and can actually embrace the concept of taking control of their futures by avoiding risk. . Though our ultimate objective is that young people embrace avoiding non-marital sexual activity, we recognize that there is value in delaying sex in the immediacy, reducing partners, and avoiding STDs and early pregnancy. Heritage is careful to not criticize other behavioral options while promoting the optimal health choice of abstinence until marriage. In addition, independent research determined that Heritage Keepers^® does not decrease condom use among sexually active teens. ALL students deserve to hear a strong abstinence message and to learn how abstaining from sex until they are in a stable committed monogamous relationship, such as marriage, can contribute to a positive future!

Certified instructors are trained to address every student in the classroom, no matter their sexual experience. During certification training, instructors learn about seven (7) different typologies of sexual experience and how to ensure that each person in the classroom feels that the curriculum is relevant to them. The typologies include students who have had many partners, students who have had sex multiple times with only one partner, students who have had sex only one time, students who have been sexually abused, students who haven’t had sex but aren’t committed to abstinence yet, students who haven’t had sex but are committed to abstinence for at least a year, and students who are committed to abstinence until marriage. Heritage Keepers^® Educators are also trained Mandated Reporters of abuse, and Heritage Community Services has been a Partner in Prevention with Darkness to Light every year since 2012. All youth, regardless of any previous sexual experience, can commit to abstaining from sex until marriage and deserve to receive a strong abstinence message to equip them with the knowledge of the benefits and the skills to abstain.

Heritage Keepers^® can be used as a stand-alone risk avoidance program or as a supplement to a risk-reduction program. Heritage does not require that it is the exclusive curriculum offered at any district/school/agency, and many schools choose to use Heritage Keepers^® as one of the components within a comprehensive sex education approach.

Confidential post-survey results show that teens enjoy and appreciate Heritage Keepers^®. Students that have completed the program say:

They would recommend the program to a friend (90%)

It raised their confidence to resist peer pressure to have sex (93%)

They liked the presentations by the educator (94%)

They liked the program exercises and activities (93%)

The educator knew the subject matter well (90%)

The educator cared about the students (90%)

The educator gave clear explanations (91%)

The educator related topics in class to everyday life (90%)

Many teens that believe in, support, and are committed to abstaining from sexual activity have never been adequately trained to be able to practice resistance skills or verbalize the benefits. Heritage Educators are often told by students that their parents had encouraged them to abstain, but after the program, they knew how and understood why!

Heritage Keepers^® has been shown to improve outcomes on scientifically-derived mediators/predictors of teen sex among both sexually active teens as well as those who have not experienced sex. However, because they have too often been denied information about avoiding risks associated with sexual activity, it is often those at greatest risk that show the most substantial movement from pre to post program.   

During the 2021-2024 years of exit surveys of approximately 24,000 adolescents who completed the Heritage Keepers^® program in SC:  

93% of youth indicated the program made them more likely to better understand what makes relationships healthy.

95% of youth indicated the program made them more likely to make plans to reach their goals.

86% of youth indicated the program made them more likely to resist or say no to peer pressure.

84% of youth indicated the program made them more likely to think about the consequences before making a decision.

90% of youth indicated the program made them more likely to resist or say no to someone if they pressure them to participate in acts such as kissing, touching private parts or sex.

82% of youth indicated the program made them more likely to plan to delay sexual intercourse until married.

Yes. Extensive independent evaluation of more than 400,000 students at more than 700 schools and agencies in the past 20 years indicates the program is effective with middle and high school students, males and females, multiples races, and in urban, suburban, and rural settings. Further, the curricula and other materials are available in English, Spanish, and French Canadian. There are also versions available specific to American Samoa and Hawaii.

Heritage delivers the program to a broad range of ethnic groups, across age, race, and gender and does not target a particular subset of adolescents. Heritage does not believe in withholding important optimal health information based on gender, race, culture, economic status, or sexual experience.

The Heritage Keepers curriculum was written around federal abstinence education funding. Heritage Keepers has long been approved by Ascend (formerly National Abstinence Education Association) for adherence to and fulfilling each of the federal legislative requirements for sexual risk avoidance education as set forth in Section 510(b) of Title V of the Social Security Act. Education on sexual risk avoidance pursuant to an allotment under this section shall ensure that the unambiguous and primary emphasis and context for each of the following A-F topics is a message to youth that normalizes the optimal health behavior of avoiding non-marital sexual activity:

[A] The holistic individual and societal benefits associated with personal responsibility, self-regulation, goal setting, healthy decision making, and a focus on the future.

[B] The advantage of refraining from nonmarital sexual activity in order to improve the future prospects and physical and emotional health of youth.

[C] The increased likelihood of avoiding poverty when youth attain self-sufficiency and emotional maturity before engaging in sexual activity.

[D] The foundational components of healthy relationships and their impact on the formation of healthy marriages and safe and stable families.

[E] How other youth risk behaviors, such as drug and alcohol usage, increase the risk for teen sex.

[F] How to resist and avoid, and receive help regarding, sexual coercion and dating violence, recognizing that even with consent teen sex remains a youth risk behavior.

· Listed as one of only 44 proven-effective teen pregnancy prevention programs by U.S. Health and Human Services, meaning that it made it through rigorous review processes that looked at over 1000 studies of teen pregnancy prevention programs.

· Reviewed and approved by Ascend as authentic Sexual Risk Avoidance Education.

· Behavioral outcomes published in peer-reviewed article: One year after the program, students initiated sex at a rate 67% lower than that of comparison students

· Recognized by SMARTool authors as an example of effective application of best practices in sexual risk avoidance abstinence education

· Evaluations (over the past 2 decades) of more than 400,000 students in public and private schools, group homes, community settings, and faith-based settings

· On-going evaluation and fidelity-to-plan processes applied in each class taught; data-based monitoring and improvement strategies

· Program development, training and evaluation integrate scientific theory and methodology throughout

· Proven effective in urban, rural and suburban settings across age (middle and high school), race (black and white), and gender (male and female)

Heritage does not sell the curriculum or training without a signed Memorandum of Understanding. Heritage also requires that any educator wishing to use the Heritage Keepers programs must first complete a training before teaching the Heritage Keepers programs. See the Training and Curricula page for pricing.

Yes.Confidential post-survey results show that teens enjoy and appreciate the Heritage Keepers program. Students’ opinions on the program are typically as follows:

90% of program students would recommend the program to a friend.

93% of program students believe the sex education program has helped them feel more confident in their ability to resist peer pressure to have sex.

94% of program students liked the presentations by the program teacher.

93% of program students liked the program exercises and activities.

90% of program students reported their Heritage teacher knew the subject matter well.

90% of program students reported their Heritage teacher cared about the students.

87% of program students reported their Heritage teacher made the class interesting and enjoyable.

91% of program students reported their Heritage teacher gave clear and understandable explanations.

90% of program students reported their Heritage teacher related topics in class to everyday life.

Many teens that believe in, support, and are committed to abstaining from sexual activity have never been adequately trained to be able to practice resistance skills or verbalize the benefits. Heritage Educators are often told by students that their parents had encouraged them to abstain, but after the program, they knew how and understood why!

Heritage Keepers^® has been shown to improve outcomes on scientifically-derived mediators/predictors of teen sex among both sexually active teens as well as those who have not experienced sex. However, because they have too often been denied information about avoiding risks associated with sexual activity, it is often those at greatest risk that show the most substantial movement from pre to post program.    

Heritage Keepers^® Level One is 450 minutes long and was designed to be delivered in a “high impact” schedule, meaning that each lesson is taught as close to the previous one as possible in order to have the most impact on the behavior of the teens. If schools operate on a 45-minute class schedule, the curriculum would be taught in that class period for 10 straight school days. If schools operate on an A/B 90 minute schedule, the curriculum would be taught in that class every other day when it typically meets for 5 days. Our program has only been researched for effectiveness in this type of learning schedule and has never been tested for effectiveness if taught only once per week or any other type of non-“high impact” schedule. The school decides which class period (ROTC, health, PE, science, elective, etc.) and grade levels receive the program. The curriculum is appropriate for grades 6-12.

Best practices and US HHS standards require that in order to assure fidelity to the Heritage Keepers^® program, at least 80% of the program must be taught; there is reduced likelihood of effectiveness if the program is not presented in the same model of the research study.

Additional supplemental curricula are available if schools allow more minutes and would like increased dosage and youth development. 

It is recommended that students receive the Heritage Keepers^® Abstinence Education Level One twice in their student career (meaning, a total of 900 minutes), or once plus additional curricula available (below).

There are 7 different Heritage Keepers^® curricula available. The Heritage Keepers^® Abstinence Education Level One is the core curriculum that is taught before anything else and is designed for middle and high school students. After students have received the core curriculum, we offer “maintenance” curricula that act as a follow-up to the core curriculum. These are character-based positive youth development Life Skill curricula. There are five different Heritage Keepers^® Life Skills curricula, each with 12 45-minute lessons (for a total of 60 lessons). These Life Skills curricula do NOT require the “high impact” schedule and can be taught in many different types of schedules—once a week, once every 2 weeks, once a month, etc. They also do not necessarily need to be taught sequentially, so a school could decide which lessons they want taught.

There is also a 600-minute Heritage Keepers^® Abstinence Education Level Two curriculum that is designed for high school students and should only be taught after they have received Level One—this is another “high impact” curriculum.

Therefore, Heritage Keepers^® offers at least 3300 minutes’ worth of curricula dosage in addition to the core Level One 450-minute curriculum, for a potential of 4,800 minutes of program towards fulfilling many common academic health standards for students.

Heritage Keepers^® recognizes that parents are the most vital influencers when it comes to adolescent sexual activity. Heritage Keepers^® suggests providing schools with parent permission forms 2 weeks before the program begins. Permission forms ensure that parents play an active role in being informed before any teen participates in the program.

Also, after each section of the curriculum is completed, a “take home sheet” is sent home with the student to give to the parents to help start a discussion between the student and parents. Many parents had previously reported feeling ill-equipped to discuss sex/abstinence with their child, so this resource helps provide some guidance and discussion questions for the parents.

Heritage has also written a book for parents, Sex, Lies, and Hookups: A Parent’s Guide for Fighting Back. We recommend that a copy of that parent book be provided to the schools for them to keep as a resource in their library to offer to parents. The book provides access to seven (7) professionally produced on-line videos that teach parents how effectively address predictors of teen sex at home, and includes the Heritage Keepers^® student workbook.

Heritage Community Services was incorporated as a SC non-profit in 1995 and received federal 501(c)3 nonprofit status in 1998. Heritage got its start contracting with the US Navy to deliver an abstinence education program to reduce unintended pregnancies among single 18 to 25 year-old enlistees working at their hospitals. Shortly thereafter, Heritage began offering abstinence education programs to teens in schools and agencies. Heritage has been successfully implementing abstinence education programs since 1998.

No. Heritage is a non-sectarian, 501(c)3 nonprofit. None of the Heritage Keepers programs are faith-based. The Heritage Keepers programs are based on science and widely accepted research.

Heritage’s mission is to strengthen the character of America’s adolescents and our communities – one individual, one family and one institution at a time. Heritage provides a multi-faceted plan to immerse a whole community in a healthy family formation message, giving everyone an opportunity to learn and participate. The main goal of the Heritage program is to communicate the realities of sexual activity and the benefits of forming healthy families to not only adolescents, but to their parents and community leaders. Heritage’s ultimate goal is two-fold: (1) increase the proportion of adolescents abstaining from sexual activity and (2) increase support for abstinence among the adults who influence them. The program is culturally sensitive, provides for parent/guardian review, and requires parent/guardian permission. Behavioral results attest to the success of the programs.

Heritage Community Services has served more than 300,000 teens since 1998 with a message that helped them grasp the social, psychological and health gains realized by abstaining from non-marital sexual activity. In addition to serving teens in South Carolina, Heritage also has served students in St Lucia and contracted with agencies in Kentucky, Maine, Rhode Island, Georgia, Florida, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Texas, Oregon and American Samoa to serve young people.

Heritage’s management and control procedures have ensured fiscal responsibility. Since Heritage Community Services first applied for a competitive grant, annual audits have been conducted by independent CPA firms. Since 1999 when Heritage Community Services’ federal funding exceeded the threshold established by US Office of Management and Budget Circular A 133, Audits of States, Local Governments, and Non Profit Organization, Heritage Community Services began having a Single Audit, as required by Circular A 133. On all audits, the auditors noted clean, or unqualified, audit opinions on financial statements. In addition to an independent auditor, Heritage Community Services’ accounting procedures are overseen by an independent public accounting firm that acts as the company’s controller.

Yes! All donations to Heritage Community Services are tax deductible. Please visit the donate section of our website.

Survey questions are proprietary to Stan Weed, PhD of the Institute for Research and Evaluation, as he created the survey questions after evaluating abstinence programs for more than 30 years in multiple countries with hundreds of thousands of teens. Pre surveys are administered before the sessions begin and post surveys are administered at the conclusion. Some students are followed up for behavioral outcomes. Comparison students are identified and matched by demographics, sexual experience and scientifically-derived “mediating variables” of teen sex. The Heritage survey includes demographic, behavioral and attitudinal items that are later electronically grouped into predetermined “mediating variables.” Demographic items include gender, ethnicity/race, and age. The behavioral items include questions about whether or not students have ever had sex and also have follow-up questions about frequency, last time, and condom use. Mediating variables are measured by items that group into six constructs that measure the following:

·Abstinence Values: measures the student commitment to maintaining sexual abstinence until marriage and their acceptance of the idea that marriage is the most appropriate context for sexual activity.

·Abstinence Efficacy: assesses student confidence in their ability to resist peer pressure to have sex, to avoid situations that would compromise their abstinence position, and to disengage from people who try to pressure them to have sex.

·Justifications for Sex: measures the rationalizing that adolescents often engage in to legitimize their initiation of sexual activity, such as being in love.

·Behavioral Intentions: measures the students’ level of intent and commitment to abstain from sexual activity in the coming year and until marriage.

·Future Orientation: measures the adolescents’ beliefs about the possible future consequences of sexual activity.

·Sexual Independence from Peers: measures the ability of the student to reject negative peer pressure to initiate sexual activity.

Outcome objectives are measured by additional survey items. Questions on pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, personal impacts, refusal or assertiveness skills, and the intention to abstain from sexual activity outside of marriage are included. Each student is also asked questions related to whether or not they enjoyed the program and the educator teaching it.

Survey data recording students’ pre- to post-program change using the mediating variables is calculated at the end of each presentation of the curriculum and has been verified by an independent third-party evaluator to assess program effectiveness. Internally, to assess educator effectiveness, each educator is given feedback to allow rapid adjustments to teaching methods when they are needed. Educators with weak improvement on specific scales are provided with strategies and continuing education for improvement.

Heritage Community Services’ program and evaluation process has been approved by, and is under the supervision of a federally sanctioned Institutional Review Board (IRB) for program content, implementation and evaluation forms, and processes and procedures. This IRB approval provides protection for the vulnerable populations (minors) served. IRBs are responsible for ensuring that the rights and welfare of the subjects are adequately protected.The formation and composition of federally sanctioned IRBs is overseen by the federal Office of Human Research Protections.

The study used by HHS that determined the effectiveness of the Heritage Keepers Abstinence Education program is a 2011 research article by Stan Weed, PhD, of the Institute for Research and Evaluation, which can be found here.The article went through a rigorous review by Mathematica (see the review process) to determine behavioral effectiveness.

Heritage Keepers has two published studies, one on the Heritage Keepers® Abstinence Education program and one on the Heritage Keepers Life Skills program. The third study showing effectiveness is being edited for submission for publication. For more information on these studies, please visit our evaluation section.

Two of the studies done on the Heritage Keepers programs were conducted by The Institute for Research and Evaluation and one study was conducted by Mathematica Policy Research.

For the study reviewed by Mathematica that resulted in Heritage Keepers being placed on the federal list of 31 evidence-based programs, Dr. Stan Weed received no compensation. For the article published in 2005 by US HHS, Dr. Stan Weed received a percentage of a grant that mandated third party evaluation. Mathematica was paid directly by the Federal government for their role in evaluating Heritage programs.

No. Federal grants require a percentage of the grant be paid directly to an independent evaluator by the agency under contract. Under the federal abstinence education money, Community Based Abstinence Education grants, 5% of each program’s budget was mandated to be spent on third party independent evaluation. It is common practice in federally-funded and some state-funded grants that the grantee secure an “independent evaluator” and identify appropriated funds in the grant application. Although most people may not be familiar with this process, many examples of this practice are found in www.grants.gov.

The duty of an independent evaluator is to provide an objective and impartial opinion. The Institute for Research and Evaluation was chosen as the independent third party evaluator because of the Institute’s long history of evaluating abstinence education programs, as well as its role as an evaluation expert consultant for major Federal abstinence education funding streams. A grantee who is offering abstinence education would select an evaluator that is conversant with abstinence education (just as a grantee who has a grant to offer family planning services secures an evaluation researcher who is familiar with family planning, and a drug manufacturer would choose someone who has experience in pharmaceutical research). Consequently, it is counter-intuitive for anyone to infer that it would be preferential for Heritage Keepers to utilize an evaluation consultant unfamiliar with the priorities and mandates of a program to evaluate effectiveness.

However, the most recent study of the Heritage program was done independently by Dr. Stan Weed, who received no compensation for the analysis and subsequent article submitted for review for inclusion in the proven effective programs list.

Yes, as long as the school is not under a Federal grant that prohibits it.Using the Heritage Keepers Abstinence Education program does not prevent use of any other sexual education programs. Schools are not limited to only providing an abstinence curriculum to their students.

Yes, as long as the school is not under a Federal grant that prohibits it.Using the Heritage Keepers Abstinence Education program does not prevent use of any other sexual education programs. Schools are not limited to only providing an abstinence curriculum to their students.

The Heritage Keepers Abstinence Education curriculum is a high-impact program with each lesson intended to be presented sequentially, with students receiving Heritage Keepers every day for five days in 90-minute classes or 10 days in 45-minute classes, for a total of 450 minutes. The school determines in what classes/programs it will be implemented–most commonly, our certified educators work in health, PE or JROTC classes. It can also be presented over fewer days if in a “retreat” type setting. The Heritage Keepers Life Skills program is adaptable to fit specific needs.

Only trained Heritage Keepers educators can present the curriculum. A classroom teacher could present the curriculum after receiving training and certification. If the certified Heritage Keepers educator is not the typical classroom teacher, then Heritage recommends a Site Approved Representative be in the classroom with the Heritage Keepers educator at all times. The Site Approved Representative should be the person normally in charge of the students, such as the regular classroom teacher. This recommendation allows another adult to witness conversations that discuss sex to minors as an added measure of accountability.

Heritage recommends genders be separated for the entire curriculum unless absolutely not possible. Also, Heritage prefers that males teach male classes and females teach female classes. Heritage has found that this practice allows for more open communication and a more relaxed classroom atmosphere when dealing with this subject.

Yes. Heritage has created a book that empowers parents to teach their children the skills needed to abstain from sex entitled Sex, Lies and Hook-Ups: A Parent’s Guide for Fighting Back.