Yesterday at the first national conference on evaluating abstinence education, federal officials urged educators to continue their work despite public controversy over the programs.

Abstinence-based sex education is an "emerging field of behavioral intervention," said Dr. Alma Golden, deputy assistant secretary for population affairs in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which held the event. There is a lot to be learned about "what works and what doesn't work," said Golden of abstinence programs. Under the Bush administration, funding for such programs has doubled to about $167 million annually.

Child psychologist Wade F. Horn, assistant secretary for children and families at HHS, said the promotion of premarital sexual abstinence is consistent with other government messages that stress the importance of marriages and fathers. "The question is not whether abstinence works," said Horn. "The question before us, in terms of evaluation and research, is what are the best strategies to help young people make that choice."

Researchers at yesterday's sessions reviewed the challenges of designing scientific evaluations of sex education programs, including those focused on abstinence. Questioning children and teens on sensitive topics such as sex is difficult, they noted. Designing evaluations that produce clear and replicable results is also a challenge.

Groups that support comprehensive sex education, which teaches both contraception and abstinence, argue that abstinence-only programs are unproven and ineffective, and government funding for them is wasteful.

The meeting itself was not without controversy. As Claude Allen, the administration's domestic policy adviser, prepared to address the conference, at least a dozen AIDS activists gathered at the podium shouting "Abstinence doesn't work" and "Safe sex now." As the activists were escorted out, the audience chanted: "Abstinence works every time."

Allen urged abstinence educators to encourage parents to become proactive in teaching their children about sex. While teens have many influences, he said, "parents top them all."

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