It’s Grant-Writing Season! - Puberty Curriculum

Are you heading into a busy spring? You’re not alone! Spring is a busy time for schools and other youth-serving agencies because it’s grant-writing season! Many sexual health grant application deadlines fall between April and June, making people who write grants scramble to submit their proposals during an already-busy time of year. Never fear! If you are writing a grant for HIV prevention, teen pregnancy prevention, or sexual risk avoidance education, we can help you make sure your proposal looks great and gets submitted on time.

Step One: Needs Assessment

Question: Does your program staff use up valuable instructional time reviewing basic sexual health education and reproductive anatomy instead of teaching the program’s lessons?

Answer: Puberty: The Wonder Years builds the needed foundation of knowledge and skills in grades 4, 5, and 6 so that your students are ready to learn in middle and high school.

Rationale: Many evidence-based interventions (EBIs) begin in middle school or high school. Yet, students in those grades often lack basic knowledge about reproduction, anatomy, and physiology. This means students aren’t ready to learn the curriculum for their grade because they don’t have the foundational knowledge that comes first. Many students lack relationship skills, communication skills, and refusal skills that are needed to be successful in their sex education classes in middle and high school. Kids need foundational information puberty, bodies, and relationships to be prepared for evidence-based interventions when they reach MS and HS. Use these charts to document typical childhood sexual development and ways to support children’s healthy sexual development.

Step Two: Program Planning

Question: Does your sexual health grant proposal include comprehensive, sequential, and sustainable interventions that will help reach the grant program’s goals and outcomes?

Answer: Puberty: The Wonder Years teaches developmentally appropriate lessons for grades 4, 5, 6 that prepare students for instruction at higher grades. Professional development for educators makes the program sustainable long after the grant funding ends and ensures consistent implementation. Read about these and other features.

Rationale: Grant funders are vitally interested in programming that is replicable, sustainable, and has measurable outcomes. The teacher-friendly lessons in Puberty: The Wonder Years make it easy to implement and replicate with consistency in multiple classrooms. Because Puberty: The Wonder Years offers professional development, educators are able to continue teaching the curriculum long after funding has ended. Student pre- and post-tests are available to measure changes in student knowledge, attitudes, and skills; this makes it easy to measure outcomes. Puberty: The Wonder Years has been included in approved federal grant proposals.

Step Three: Budget and Documentation

Question: Do you need a budget, budget detail, and letter of support/agreement?

Answer: Puberty: The Wonder Years offers a cost-effective curriculum, companion resources, and professional development. We can provide support for your grant proposal by providing the budget information needed, and a letter of support/agreement when you include Puberty: The Wonder Years as part of your program plan.

Rationale: These helpful resources are available for preparing your proposal:

Past evaluation results show that Puberty: The Wonder Years positively impacts student knowledge, attitudes, and skills as shown HERE.
Unique features of Puberty: The Wonder Years set it apart from other curricula for this age group. [link to chart Nicole is making]
Charts showing the ages and stages of sexual development demonstrate that students are developmentally ready for, and need, information and skills related to sexual development.
Description of Puberty: The Wonder Years curriculum and how it works provides the language for program description.
Budget detail/pricing is made simple using our budget worksheet.
Letter of support/commitment can be tailored to your program plan.