COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL HEALTH EDUCATION STANDARDS

Through health literacy, healthy self-management skills, and health promotion, comprehensive health education teaches fundamental health concepts, promotes habits and conduct that enhance health and wellness, and guides efforts to build healthy families, relationships, schools, and communities. The Massachusetts Comprehensive Health Curriculum Framework discusses recommended health education content in terms of 4 separate but interrelated strands: physical health, social and emotional health, safety and prevention, and personal and community health. Each strand includes several PreK-12 standards (14 in all) that define topic-oriented content and set expectations for knowledge and skills that students should acquire from their health studies.

Physical Health Strand

 

·         Growth and Development

·         Physical Activity and Fitness

·         Nutrition

·         Reproductive Health

Social and Emotional Health Strand

·         Mental Health

·         Family Life

·         Interpersonal Relationships

Safety and Prevention Strand

·         Disease Prevention and Control

·         Safety and Injury Prevention

·         Tobacco, Alcohol, and Other Substance Use/Abuse Prevention

·         Violence Prevention

Personal and Community Health Strand

·         Consumer Health and Resource Management

·         Ecological Health

·         Community and Public Health

Within these standards, measurable student competencies are defined for each grade span (PreK‑5, 6‑8, 9­12). 

The Massachusetts standards are organized primarily by topical content, although each standard also addresses skill development. The National Health Education Standards, developed by the Joint Committee on National Health Education Standards in 1995 and revised in 2005, place an even stronger emphasis on the critical health skills students need in order to adopt, practice, and maintain healthy behaviors. The National Health Education Standards state that:

• Students will comprehend concepts related to health promotion and disease prevention to enhance health.
• Students will analyze the influence of family, peers, culture, media, technology, and other factors on health behaviors.
• Students will demonstrate the ability to access valid information and products and services to enhance health.
• Students will demonstrate the ability to use interpersonal communication skills to enhance health and avoid or reduce health risks.
• Students will demonstrate the ability to use decision-making skills to enhance health.
• Students will demonstrate the ability to use goal-setting skills to enhance health.
• Students will demonstrate the ability to practice health-enhancing behaviors and avoid or reduce health risks.
• Students will demonstrate the ability to advocate for personal, family, and community health.

Cited from the Pre-publication document of National Health Education Standards, Pre-K through 12, American Cancer Society, December 2005 – August 2006.

The Massachusetts Framework and the National Health Education Standards can complement one another, with the former outlining important topic areas and the latter focusing on the development of health-related skills.