As a result of Senate Bill 818/Public Act 102-522, the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) has adopted new national standards for comprehensive personal health and safety learning in grades K-5, and comprehensive sexual health in grades 6-8, during the summer of 2022.
School districts in Illinois are not required to offer comprehensive health education programming, as reflected in the Senate Bill, and local districts are granted the authority to decide whether to adopt these new national learning standards. At this time, Zion District 6 will continue to provide our current, standard, health curriculum in compliance with Illinois School Code. The District requires more time to understand the new standards before making any decisions about adoption. Action to offer comprehensive health education programming or adopt the new standards will not take place until we can conduct further research.
Should any adoption and expansion of learning occur in the future, as described in the new legislation, parents would continue to have the ability for their student to out-out of specific learning. You can read more about state changes and resources available to districts on the ISBE website.
Also, during the summer of 2022, additional instructional mandates by the Illinois School Code and the Illinois Administrative Code, for grades K-8, were released. These mandates include new requirements for areas of study in Computer Literacy, Mental Health, and Asian American History.
Autonomy has been afforded to local district’s relating to ISBE’s recent adoption of the new national standards for comprehensive personal health and safety learning, and comprehensive sexual health. Instructional mandates by the Illinois School Code relating to Computer Literacy, Mental Health and Asian American History must be met with compliance from all school districts.
Zion District 6 is in the process of developing comprehensive literature identifying (1) area of study mandates with a summary of requirements, (2) instructional mandates by grade level, and (3) how requirements are taught within our curriculum. Upon completion, families will be notified by the email address on file and the document will be available for viewing on our Zion District 6 website.