Family life education in Chicago schools: a study of programs implemented by nonschool agencies

Although nonschool agencies provide important complementary courses on family life education (FLE) in public and private schools, little is known about the scope and content of such curricula. This paper describes a study documenting the types of school-based family life education programs implemented by nonschool agencies in Chicago. Semistructured telephone interviews were conducted with professionals from 26 health care and social service agencies, identified as offering FLE courses in the metropolitan area. The surveyed organizations provided FLE programs in almost 100 public and private schools in Chicago during the 1982-83 and 1983-84 school years. Most programs were relatively short, utilized few interactive teaching techniques (e.g., role-playing, exercises), covered a wide variety of topics, and were integrated into other curricula units rather than implemented as separate courses. Agency personnel covered topics viewed as important by school administrators and teachers, most notably information on contraception and sexual decision making.