The Safer, Smarter Schools curriculum is a Kindergarten through 12th Grade personal safety and abuse prevention program developed by the Lauren’s Kids Foundation, lifelong educators, sexual violence prevention experts, developmental psychologists, and the University of Florida Lastinger Center with support and oversight from the Florida Department of Education. The curriculum -- which fulfills Erin’s Law requirements -- was developed by Lauren Book, M.S. Ed, and the aforementioned multidisciplinary team to teach children critical personal safety information in a developmentally and age-appropriate way. Safer, Smarter Kids and Safer, Smarter Teens curriculum is a pedagogically sound, spiral curriculum based on best practices of developmental milestones; as a child’s world expands, so does the lessons' content to meet their increasing safety needs. The Safer, Smarter Schools program empowers children with tools that protect them from abuse and teach them about important esteem and safety issues such as bullying, Internet safety, and empowerment. 1 in 3 girls and 1 in 5 boys will be sexually assaulted by the age of eighteen. We also know that before the age of eighteen, one in five kids that touch a computer will be solicited for sex online. Yet this is a silent epidemic: 75 percent of children who experience abuse do not tell anyone within this first year, nearly half wait at least five years to tell, and many never do. Encouragingly, 95 percent of abuse is preventable by education and awareness. We know if we empower children to use their voice and identify safe versus unsafe situations, they can make decisions that help them to remain safe, as well as access help to avoid abuse or prevent subsequent abuse. The Safer, Smarter Schools curriculum is designed to do just that.

*Revisions to this material were made in response to requests from the Utah State Board of Education Standards and Assessment Committee during its June 24, 2025 meeting. The Safer, Smarter Schools curriculum is a Kindergarten through 12th Grade personal