Health Education: Building Knowledge and Skills for a Healthy Life
By Nora Howley, Manager of Programs, NEA-Health Information Network
It is hard not to turn on the television, flip through the paper, or open the news app on your smart phone without coming across concerns about the health of children around everything from obesity (one third of children are overweight or obese) to prescription drug misuse (almost 21% of high school students report they have taken a prescription drug without a doctor’s script).
Schools can do a number of things to address these concerns. They can provide healthier food, offer more opportunities for physical activity, and create community events to help parents better understand the risks associated with prescription drug misuse and abuse. But regardless of the health problem, one of the most important things that schools can undertake is to have a strong, standards-basedhealth education program.
Health education is a curricular area with voluntary national standards (to which most states align their standards) and a robust system of curricular alignment and assessment tools. The health education standards address both knowledge and skills. Many of the skills taught in
It is hard not to turn on the television, flip through the paper, or open the news app on your smart phone without coming across concerns about the health of children around everything from obesity (one third of children are overweight or obese) to prescription drug misuse (almost 21% of high school students report they have taken a prescription drug without a doctor’s script).
Schools can do a number of things to address these concerns. They can provide healthier food, offer more opportunities for physical activity, and create community events to help parents better understand the risks associated with prescription drug misuse and abuse. But regardless of the health problem, one of the most important things that schools can undertake is to have a strong, standards-basedhealth education program.
Health education is a curricular area with voluntary national standards (to which most states align their standards) and a robust system of curricular alignment and assessment tools. The health education standards address both knowledge and skills. Many of the skills taught in