Getting Started
Why Health Education Matters
Developing Skills for Health, Resilience, and Total Well-Being
Health Education is relevant to students’ lives and supports students’ health, resilience, total well-being, and academic success so they may reach their aspirations from early learning through college, career, and citizenship.
Hawaiʻi’s youth face many challenges as they grow up. The 2021 Youth Risk Behavior Survey shows that among Hawaiʻi’s high school students:
7.4 percent attempted suicide in the past 12 months.
34.8 percent felt sad or hopeless almost every day for two or more weeks in a row that they stopped doing some usual activities in the past 12 months.
42.6 percent used a condom during last sexual intercourse (among students who were currently sexually active).
32.4 percent used an electronic vapor product.
11.8 percent were electronically bullied in the past 12 months.
55.0 percent had at least one teacher or other adult in their school they could talk to if they had a problem.
61.1 percent had an adult outside of school they could talk to about things that were important to them.
Providing students with a high-quality, comprehensive Health Education equips them with the skills, functional knowledge, and attitudes to address their strengths and interests as well as their current and future health needs and challenges. Health literacy is essential to students’ social, emotional, mental, physical, and cognitive development.
Health-literate individuals are able to find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others. This contributes to resilience, well-being, healthy relationships, and a positive quality of life as well as prevents and reduces the risk of disease, injury, and death. In addition to maintaining and enhancing their own health, health-literate individuals are also able to advocate for the health of others.
Health Education matters!
Implementing Health Ed.
Comprehensive Health Education
Grades K-12
Healthy students are better learners (Michael, 2015). Standards-based Health Education contributes to supporting the whole child as part of a well-rounded educational experience.
Research shows that healthy students demonstrate better academic achievement (i.e., higher class grades and standardized test scores), education behaviors (i.e., higher attendance and lower behavioral problems at school), and cognitive skills and attitudes (i.e., higher concentration and memory).
National Health Education Standards in Hawai'i.pdfToday’s Health Education reflects evidence-informed practices and the growing body of research that emphasizes:
supporting the health, resilience, and total well-being of the whole child (e.g., students’ social, emotional, mental, physical, and cognitive development).
cultivating health literacy skills aligned to National Health Education Standards.
building functional knowledge with relevant and functional information aligned to Priority Health Topics.
strengthening students' connections with their identities, family, and community.
addressing students’ strengths, interests, challenges, and needs through interactive and social learning experiences.
nurturing attitudes, values, and beliefs that support health-promoting behaviors through safe, inclusive, and caring messages and learning environments.
Less effective Health Education often overemphasizes teaching scientific facts and increasing student knowledge.
The National Health Education Standards: Achieving Excellence (NHES) were adopted by the Hawai'i State Board of Education in 2019, with full implementation of the NHES in SY 2023-2024.
Note: Health Education in Pre-kindergarten is aligned to the Hawai‘i Early Learning and Development Standards (HELDS).
Course Requirements
Grades K-12
Elementary: Health Education is required in all elementary grades.
Middle/Intermediate: Middle/intermediate schools must offer courses that allow all students to meet the Hawaiʻi’s Health Education standards and performance indicators for Grades 6-8. One semester of Health Education in each middle/intermediate school grade is strongly recommended but not required.
High: In high school, a one-semester course (0.5 credits; 60 hours) in Health Education is required for graduation.
A variety of Health specialized elective courses (e.g., Peer Education) are available at the secondary school level.
For middle school promotion and high school graduation requirements, refer to BOE Policy 105-1 Academic Program, BOE Policy 102-9 Middle Level Education Promotion Policy, and BOE Policy 102-15 High School Graduation Requirements and Commencement.
For instructional minutes requirements, refer to the HIDOE Wellness Guidelines.
For elementary standards-based report cards, refer to the Report Card Guidelines and FAQs (HIDOE staff login required).
Wellness Guidelines for Health Education and Nutrition Promotion
Public, Non-Charter Schools
Health education and nutrition promotion provide the instructional foundation that is necessary to prepare students to make lifelong healthy decisions and practice healthy behaviors. This component area of the Wellness Guidelines includes schoolwide promotion of nutritious meals and snacks as well as quality health education.
Guidelines for health education and nutrition promotion are organized around four key components:
Instructional content of health education classes includes a focus on knowledge and skills that support healthy eating and is aligned with the Hawaiʻi State Department of Education (HIDOE) standards for health education.
Health education is provided to students in elementary grades at least 45 minutes per week and secondary grades at least 200 minutes per week.
Nutrition education includes culturally relevant activities that are ʻaina-based and hands-on, such as food preparation, taste-testing, farm visits and school gardens.
All school-based marketing of foods and beverages must meet the Nutrition Guidelines. This includes, but is not limited to, school publications, the exterior of vending machines, posters, banners, in-school televisions and scoreboards.
Sexual Health Education
Public, Non-Charter Schools
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education (HIDOE) schools provide age-appropriate and medically accurate sexual health education to promote healthy decisions and behaviors during puberty and adolescence as well as prevent unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. Students are encouraged to communicate with their parents, guardians, and trusted adults. Parents and legal guardians may opt-out of having their children participate in sexual health education.
For sexual health education and prophylactics in the public schools, refer to BOE Policy 103-5 Sexual Health Education and BOE Policy 103-8 Prophylactics in the Public Schools.
Early Learning
PreK
Health Education in Pre-kindergarten (PreK) is aligned to the Hawaiʻi Early Learning and Development Standards (HELDS).
More information on PreK Programs:
HELDS-continuum-2014.04.01.pdfPeer Education Programs
Grades 6-12
Schools may implement Peer Education Programs (PEP) as Health Education elective courses in middle/intermediate and high schools. Per the course descriptions for the Health Education Authorized Courses and Code Numbers (ACCN), Peer Education courses are service-learning intensive and aligned to Hawaiʻi’s Health Education standards. Emphasis is placed on the development and application of peer helper skills outlined in the National Association of Peer Program Professionals (NAPPP) Programmatic Standards, formerly the National Peer Helpers Association Programmatic Standards.
Additional Information and Policies
The Health Education Toolkit provides information, strategies, and resources related specifically to designing and delivering standards-based Health Education. For additional information and policies related to the HIDOE, go to:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC]. (2019). Characteristics of effective health education curricula. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/sher/characteristics
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC]. (2012). Health education curriculum analysis tool, 2012, Atlanta, GA: Author.
Joint Committee on National Health Education Standards. (2007). National health education standards: Achieving excellence (2nd ed.). Athens, GA: The American Cancer Society.
Michael, S. L., Merlo, C. L., Basch, C. E., Wentzel, K. R., & Wechsler, H. (2015, October 6). Critical connections: health and academics. Journal of School Health, 85(11), 740-758. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/josh.12309
Society of Health and Physical Educators [SHAPE] America. (2018). Health education is a critical component of a well-rounded education [Position statement]. Reston, VA: Author. Retrieved from https://www.shapeamerica.org/advocacy/positionstatements/health/upload/HE_Critical_Component_Position_Statement.pdf
Society of Health and Physical Educators [SHAPE] America. (2018, July 19). What is health literacy? Retrieved from https://www.shapeamerica.org/publications/products/health-literacy.aspx
US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (2020). Healthy people 2030. Retrieved from https://health.gov/healthypeople
Youth risk behavior survey reports. (2019). Retrieved from http://hhdw.org/health-reports-data/other-reports/