Focuses on Clear Health Goals and Related Behavior Outcomes

Description: This characteristic is foundational for an effective health education curriculum. The goal of health education is to help students adopt or maintain healthy behaviors.¹ Given this charge, health goals, behaviors, or outcomes must be clearly defined, focused, and meaningful to students. Students need to know the healthy behaviors that are expected of them. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have identified a list of healthy behavior outcomes (HBOs) for students in grades K–12 that align with nine health topic areas and help to promote health and prevent disease (HECAT Appendix 3). 

Functional health knowledge and skills taught in health education should align and focus on addressing HBOs. Prioritizing and selecting HBOs should reflect developmental appropriateness and cultural inclusivity, as well as health-behavior data and trends from a variety of sources. For example, using the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, state and local education and health data, and input from key partners such as students, parents, and health professionals can inform HBO selection.

Across the health topic areas, each HBO is important, but there isn’t enough instructional time allotted to health education in most school districts to address all of them. Therefore, health curriculum coordinators and health teachers need to be selective when determining which HBOs to address in the district’s health education scope and sequence, unit plans, and curriculum lessons. HBOs are the starting place for every health education unit and lesson plan, and they guide the development or selection of student learning objectives, functional knowledge and skills, and assessment.

Example 1 

For this teaching example, the unit that is being taught is Alcohol and Other Drugs, and the HBO for the lesson is AOD-3: Avoid the use of alcohol (HECAT Appendix 3).

1. The teacher posts and introduces the HBO to students so the students understand the expected outcome for the lesson is to avoid the use of alcohol.

2. The teacher then has the students complete a small-group activity in which they create two lists. The first list includes the physical, intellectual, social, and emotional consequences of the use of alcohol among high school students. The second list includes the physical, intellectual, social, and emotional benefits of avoiding the use of alcohol among high school students.

3. The students share their lists of consequences of using alcohol and the benefits of avoiding alcohol use among high school students.

4. At the end of the lesson, students think of one thing they learned that will help them avoid the use of alcohol. They write their idea on a sticky note and place it on the door on their way out of class.

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