Decreasing Rates
Over the past decade, teen pregnancy rates in the United States have declined and are now at their lowest level in 20 years. Still, 1 million teenagers become pregnant each year.
Whether considering a program for replication or preparing a program for replication by others, a number of key questions must be considered: What is the program intended to accomplish? Is the program effective? What makes it effective? Is the program ready to be replicated? What is the replication plan? This report draws on the replication experiences of three programs: Plain Talk, the Teen Outreach Program and the Children's Aid Society-Carrera Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program. It provides a brief overview of the primary issues involved in replicating a program to prevent teen pregnancy.
The United States has the highest rates of teen pregnancy and birth among industrialized nations. One strategy that will help to curb these alarming rates of teen pregnancy is to replicate — that is, to copy and put into place — evaluated programs with positive results, extending their reach to new communities.