Why teach this

Schools already teach students how to stay safe around fire, water and traffic. Teaching them to stay safe around other people, to treat others with respect, and to help when something is wrong belongs on the same list. This page sets out what students learn, what the research does and doesn't show, and how you can start using this site in class today.

What students learn

The Near Miss Project teaches three roles. Each one grows with the student.

• Protect yourself. In early elementary, students learn the correct names for body parts, that their body belongs to them, and that they should tell a trusted adult. By high school this covers trusting their instincts, setting boundaries in relationships and online, and knowing where to get help. It never suggests that anyone who was harmed is to blame.
• Check yourself. Young children learn to ask before touching and to stop when someone says no. Older students learn what consent means, how pressure and power work, and how to take responsibility for what they do.
• Step in. Young children learn to get an adult when someone is being hurt. Teens learn safe, practical ways to interrupt harassment or help a friend, and how to support someone afterward.

What the evidence shows

The research supports teaching this. It doesn't support overpromising, and we try not to.

• Body-safety programs build knowledge and skills. A Cochrane review of 24 randomized trials with 5,802 children found that school-based programs improved children's knowledge and protective behaviors. Knowledge gains held up one to six months later. Children in these programs may also be more likely to disclose abuse, though the review was less certain about this finding. The review found no evidence that the programs raised or lowered children's anxiety or fear [1].
• Those programs haven't been shown to reduce abuse on their own. The same review notes that studies have not yet properly measured whether the programs lower how often abuse happens. It rated the evidence as moderate quality [1].
• Bystander programs increase confidence and helping. The CDC reports that bystander programs can increase how often young people step in or speak up, and how confident they feel about doing it [4]. A review of 12 school bullying-prevention programs (12,874 students) found the programs increased students stepping in to help [9].
• Some school-wide efforts have reduced violence. In a five-year randomized trial in 26 Kentucky high schools, the Green Dot bystander program was followed by fewer sexual violence incidents and less sexual harassment, stalking and dating violence. The effects appeared in years three and four, once the program was fully in place [2]. Shifting Boundaries combined classroom lessons with school-wide changes for sixth and seventh graders. The schoolwide part, and the two parts together, cut sexual harassment by 26–34% and peer sexual violence by 32–47%. Classroom lessons on their own did not reduce violence [3]. The CDC notes that results depend heavily on how well a program is put into practice [4].

In short: teaching this reliably builds students' knowledge, skills and willingness to speak up, and it doesn't frighten them. The strongest effects on actual violence come from sustained, school-wide work, not one-off lessons.

Why start early

Sexual violence often begins in childhood or the teen years. Among female rape survivors in the US, almost half were first raped as minors. About four in ten male survivors who were made to penetrate someone were first victimized as minors [5]. The CDC also notes that bullying others in early middle school is linked to sexually harassing others in high school [4]. Students who already have the words, the habits and a trusted adult to go to are better prepared before those years arrive.

Starting early also gives students time to build on what they know. One review found that bystander programs had larger effects in high school than in kindergarten through eighth grade [9]. Early lessons lay the groundwork that later lessons build on.

What's already required or recommended

Requirements depend on your state and on the type of school. Check your own state's rules.

• Erin's Law. This law requires public schools to run a child sexual abuse prevention program, including teaching students body safety and how to tell an adult. The official Erin's Law site says it has passed in 38 states. Check your own state, as the count may have changed [6].
• National Sex Education Standards. These voluntary K–12 guidelines give teachers and curriculum developers a road map. The topics include consent, bodily autonomy and telling healthy relationships from unhealthy ones [7].
• The Clery Act (colleges). Federal rules require covered colleges and universities to provide prevention programs for incoming students and new employees. These must include the local legal definition of consent and information on bystander intervention, and colleges must keep the campaigns going over time [8]. Students who learn these ideas in high school arrive already familiar with them.

How to use this site in class now

Every lesson and guide on this site is free to use in class.

• Elementary and middle school. The lessons by age are written for parents. Teachers can adapt them for short classroom talks and send them home so families can reinforce them.
• High school. The guides for ages 14 and up are written directly to teens and work as readings or discussion starters.
• Every grade. Need help now is a good page to share in case a lesson prompts a student to disclose something.

Classroom kits for each grade are coming, starting with high school.

Get in touch

If you teach, counsel or lead a school and want to bring this to your students, we'd like to hear from you: hello@nearmissproject.com.