2018 Connecticut General Statutes
Title 10 - Education and Culture
Chapter 164 - Educational Opportunities
Section 10-16b - Prescribed courses of study.

(a) In the public schools the program of instruction offered shall include at least the following subject matter, as taught by legally qualified teachers, the arts; career education; consumer education; health and safety, including, but not limited to, human growth and development, nutrition, first aid, including cardiopulmonary resuscitation training in accordance with the provisions of section 10-16qq, disease prevention and cancer awareness, including, but not limited to, age and developmentally appropriate instruction in performing self-examinations for the purposes of screening for breast cancer and testicular cancer, community and consumer health, physical, mental and emotional health, including youth suicide prevention, substance abuse prevention, safety, which shall include the safe use of social media, as defined in section 9-601, and may include the dangers of gang membership, and accident prevention; language arts, including reading, writing, grammar, speaking and spelling; mathematics; physical education; science; social studies, including, but not limited to, citizenship, economics, geography, government and history; computer programming instruction; and in addition, on at least the secondary level, one or more world languages and vocational education. For purposes of this subsection, world languages shall include American Sign Language, provided such subject matter is taught by a qualified instructor under the supervision of a teacher who holds a certificate issued by the State Board of Education. For purposes of this subsection, the “arts” means any form of visual or performing arts, which may include, but not be limited to, dance, music, art and theatre.

(b) If a local or regional board of education requires its pupils to take a course in a world language, the parent or guardian of a pupil identified as deaf or hard of hearing may request in writing that such pupil be exempted from such requirement and, if such a request is made, such pupil shall be exempt from such requirement.

(c) Each local and regional board of education shall on September 1, 1982, and annually thereafter at such time and in such manner as the Commissioner of Education shall request, attest to the State Board of Education that such local or regional board of education offers at least the program of instruction required pursuant to this section, and that such program of instruction is planned, ongoing and systematic.

(d) The State Board of Education shall make available curriculum materials and such other materials as may assist local and regional boards of education in developing instructional programs pursuant to this section. The State Board of Education, within available appropriations and utilizing available resource materials, shall assist and encourage local and regional boards of education to include: (1) Holocaust and genocide education and awareness; (2) the historical events surrounding the Great Famine in Ireland; (3) African-American history; (4) Puerto Rican history; (5) Native American history; (6) personal financial management, including, but not limited to, financial literacy as developed in the plan provided under section 10-16pp; (7) training in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and the use of automatic external defibrillators; (8) labor history and law, including organized labor, the collective bargaining process, existing legal protections in the workplace, the history and economics of free market capitalism and entrepreneurialism, and the role of labor and capitalism in the development of the American and world economies; and (9) topics approved by the state board upon the request of local or regional boards of education as part of the program of instruction offered pursuant to subsection (a) of this section.

(P.A. 78-218, S. 11; 78-303, S. 85, 136; P.A. 79-128, S. 13, 36; P.A. 80-166, S. 2; P.A. 89-133, S. 1, 2; 89-185, S. 1, 2; P.A. 93-416, S. 6, 10; P.A. 95-101, S. 1; P.A. 97-45, S. 1; 97-61, S. 1; P.A. 08-153, S. 8; P.A. 11-136, S. 1; P.A. 12-198, S. 4; P.A. 15-17, S. 1; 15-94, S. 1; 15-138, S. 1; P.A. 16-188, S. 4; P.A. 17-202, S. 13, 102.)

History: P.A. 78-303 allowed substitution of commissioner of education for secretary of state board of education in accordance with P.A. 77-614, S. 302, effective January 1, 1979; P.A. 79-128 replaced specific subject listings with more general subject matter areas and added Subsecs. (b) and (c); P.A. 80-166 changed initial date in Subsec. (b) from “in 1981” to “on September 1, 1982”; P.A. 89-133 in Subsec. (a) added provision that language arts may include certain sign languages, added new Subsec. (b) providing an exemption from foreign language requirements for deaf or hearing impaired pupils and relettered Subsecs. (b) and (c) as Subsecs. (c) and (d); P.A. 89-185 in Subsec. (a) added the subjects which health and safety education shall include but not be limited to; P.A. 93-416 amended Subsec. (a) to provide that “safety” may include the dangers of gang membership, effective June 29, 1993; P.A. 95-101 added provision concerning Holocaust education and awareness in Subsec. (d); P.A. 97-45 amended Subsec. (d) to add provision concerning the Great Famine in Ireland; P.A. 97-61 amended Subsec. (d) to expand the list of topics for programs of instruction to include African-American History, Puerto-Rican History, Native American History, personal financial management and topics approved by the State Board of Education at the request of local or regional boards of education; P.A. 08-153 amended Subsec. (a) to define “arts”, effective July 1, 2008; P.A. 11-136 amended Subsec. (a) by replacing “foreign” with “world”, replacing “language arts may” with “world languages shall” and replacing “sign language or signed English” with “Sign Language” and amended Subsec. (d)(1) by adding “and genocide”, effective July 1, 2011 (Revisor’s note: In Subsec. (b), a reference to “foreign language” was changed editorially by the Revisors to “world language” to conform with changes made in Subsec. (a) by P.A. 11-136); P.A. 12-198 amended Subsec. (d) by adding new Subdiv. (7) re training in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and use of automatic external defibrillators and redesignating existing Subdiv. (7) as Subdiv. (8), effective July 1, 2012; P.A. 15-17 amended Subsec. (d) by adding new Subdiv. (8) re labor history and law and the history and economics of free market capitalism and entrepreneurialism and redesignating existing Subdiv. (8) as Subdiv. (9), effective July 1, 2015; P.A. 15-94 amended Subsec. (a) to provide that “first aid” includes cardiopulmonary resuscitation training, to provide that “safety” shall include the safe use of social media, and by adding computer programming instruction, effective July 1, 2016; P.A. 15-138 amended Subsec. (d) to provide that “personal financial management” includes financial literacy developed in the plan provided under Sec. 10-16pp; P.A. 16-188 amended Subsec. (a) to add provisions re cancer awareness and instruction in performing self-examinations for breast cancer and testicular cancer, effective July 1, 2016; P.A. 17-202 amended Subsec. (b) by replacing “hearing impaired” with “hard of hearing”.