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Bruce Cook – President & Founder of Choosing the Best
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Shown to Reduce Teen Sex by 25%
Atlanta, September 25, 2024— Upon completion of its Teen Pregnancy Prevention Evidence Review (TPPER), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that Choosing the Best would be placed on its list of Evidence-Based Programs for Teen Pregnancy Prevention.[i] A rigorous, independent study found that students receiving Choosing the Best were significantly — 25% — less likely to initiate sex versus students in the control group who did not receive the program, nine months after baseline (treatment).[ii]
The study — a cluster, randomized, controlled trial rated “high quality” by TPPER — evaluated 1,143 ninth graders. Students received the curriculum during regular high school health classes. According to Choosing the Best President and CEO Bruce Cook, “This study has the distinctive of being an authentic field study, showing significant decreases in the initiation of teen sex in an actual school setting, something very few programs can claim. These are realistic results which can be expected to be replicated in other schools that implement Choosing the Best.”
TPPER’s review criteria require programs to show evidence of at least one favorable, statistically significant impact on at least one outcome of interest reflecting sexual behavior (e.g., whether teens have ever had sex) or the consequences of sexual behavior (e.g. STIs, HIV, or pregnancy). Additionally, the supporting studies must meet established criteria for the quality and execution of their research designs. The study of Choosing the Best met all these criteria for evidence of effectiveness.[iii]
Choosing the Best offers four age-appropriate, abstinence-centered, sexual risk avoidance curricula for middle and high school students. All programs follow a similar, highly interactive format, covering core topics which include: the health benefits of delaying sexual activity (abstinence), healthy vs. unhealthy relationships, goal-setting and decision-making, sexual violence prevention, consent, STI education and prevention, risks of alcohol use, character building, boundary setting, and refusal skills. All programs also incorporate parent involvement into each lesson.
For more information, visit www.choosingthebest.com or call 1-800-774-2378 (BEST).
Provides 400,000+ Students with Life-changing
Message about Teen Pregnancy Prevention
Atlanta, September 22, 2023 — Choosing the Best, one of the nation’s leading providers of abstinence-centered, sexual risk avoidance (SRA) education for adolescents, was presented with an Outstanding Service Award by the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention (APP) Unit of the Division of Family and Children Services, Georgia Department of Human Services (DHS). Since 2010, Choosing the Best has worked with APP to provide Title V funded SRA sex education to adolescent students throughout Georgia. During the award presentation, Choosing the Best was praised for exceptional and sustained contributions towards preventing teen pregnancy in Georgia, including:
Atlanta, June 29, 2016 — The CDC’s recent release of the 2015 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance indicated that youth across the U.S. are now less likely to have sex than they were 20 years ago. In fact, today nearly 60% of high school students nationwide have not had sex, an increase of 28% since 1991.1
Atlanta, August 11, 2014 — Local educators in Monroe County Georgia were pleased to see the latest statistics showing dramatic declines in teen pregnancy in their community. From 2003 to 2010, pregnancy rates among 15 to 17 year olds in Monroe County declined from 30.5 to 13.3, a 56% reduction in teen pregnancy.[1]
February 24, 2014 – From LoyolaPhoenix.com – It is unfortunate that the recent PHOENIX editorial (“Loyola leaves students sexually unprotected”) on sexual health did not even mention abstinence. Instead, the Editorial Board decided to abdicate personal responsibility and argue that is the job of an educational institution to make sure its students have birth control (even though the editorial pointed out how easily accessible it is). Since the Editorial Board decided not to offer abstinence as a viable way to avoid STDs and unplanned pregnancies, I gladly will.