KNOW Curriculum

The KNOW Curriculum is the HIV/STD prevention curriculum developed by OSPI at the direction of the legislature.

Districts have two options for meeting legislative requirements for providing annual HIV prevention instruction to students in grades 5-12.

1. Adopt and use KNOW, the state's model HIV/STD Prevention Curriculum developed by OSPI.
   OR
2. Deliver a district-developed or existing curriculum/materials that have been reviewed for medical accuracy by the WA Department of Health (DOH) Office on HIV/AIDS.

KNOW Curriculum

Important Notice: The KNOW curriculum for grades 5-8 is becoming outdated and OSPI is considering removing it from our website by the end of the 2022-23 school year. Districts planning to use it until then should make the following updates:

• Statistics on HIV/STD rates - see the WA Dept. of Health website
• Standards alignment - see 2016 Health Education K-12 Learning Standards
• HIV prevention - information about PrEP and PEP should be provided - see the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website for more information

• Grades 5–6 (96 pages, revised 2014)
• Grades 7–8 (100 pages, revised 2014)
• Grades 5-6, Spanish (97 pages, revised 2014)
• Grades 7-8, Spanish (102 pages, revised 2014)
• High School - NOTE: The High School version of KNOW no longer meets state medical/scientific accuracy requirements and is no longer available. OSPI is not planning to make revisions.

With new requirements in place for comprehensive sexual health education (CSHE) in grades 4-12, it is recommended that schools incorporate HIV/STD prevention instruction into their CSHE instruction or use other newer materials that have been reviewed and found consistent with CSHE and AIDS Omnibus Act requirements. You may contact Laurie Dils for more information.

Resources are available to assist districts in identifying an effective, medically accurate HIV/STD prevention program for students.

Included in the KNOW curriculum are lesson plans, suggestions for creating safe and supportive learning environments, guidelines for answering questions, statewide resources, laws and model policies, and suggestions for parent involvement. Two DVDs are referenced in KNOW, and are optional for use. OSPI has copies available for districts to borrow.

Two additional videos were developed by Redefine+, a community-based organization, to align with KNOW for 5th and 6th grades. The 5th grade video and the 6th grade video are available at no cost for optional use by districts. They have both been reviewed by OSPI and the Department of Health for medical accuracy and meet state requirements for school-based HIV/AIDS education. The 5th grade video should be used with the teacher’s discussion guide.

Training is not required for delivery of the KNOW Curriculum, though OSPI periodically provides training (see our Professional Learning Page).