Teen PEP was developed in New Jersey by the Center for
Supportive Schools1 (CSS) and HiTOPS Adolescent Health and
Education Center (HiTOPS2), in collaboration with the NewJersey
Department of Health, and has been implemented in 50 mostly
urban and suburban schools. The program was replicated in
North Carolina, in mostly rural communities, as part of the TPP
with a few adaptations to accommodate structural factors,3 none
of which touched the core program logic model (Figure 1).
Implementation of Teen PEP occurs on three levels: a team of
stakeholders and program advisors is assembled and trained; a
team of 11th- and 12th-grade peer educators is recruited,
selected, and trained; and a cohort of ninth graders participates
in workshops on sexual health led by peer educators. Although
this article focuses on the second and third levels, it is important
to note Teen PEP’s distinguishing features: it integrates into the
school day, leverages existing resources within a school (staff,
students, and space), develops a teamof stakeholders committed
to implementation success, utilizes the power of older peers to
positively influence attitudes and behaviors of younger peers by
conducting interactive workshops that include skits and smallgroup
learning activities, delivers comprehensive training to
program advisors and student peer educators, and includes a
broad sexual health focus. A detailed description of the program
model, which is beyond the scope of this article, can be found on
the Teen PEP Web site (www.teenpep.org).