Two websites are reviewed with regard to content and usefulness from the perspective of an elementary school teacher.
The Challenge Standards website cited above was reviewed in the area of Health Education Standards. These standards provide a health framework for California schools rather than describing a health education curriculum. Basically the Challenge Standards represent CaliforniaÆs vision of health literacy. Examples are given of what proficient students must know by the end of each grade. These standards act as a resource to help schools establish standards for content areas, and are therefore a valuable tool in letting the classroom teacher know what to teach in the area of health education.
The website contains ten files: An overview of health education and health education standards for kindergarten through high school. Of these, the health literacy philosophy and the Grade Four standards were the most interesting to me as a fourth grade teacher. The Overview section presents a case for use of a systemwide approach in order to ensure the health of children and families in California. Four unifying ideas of health literacy are presented along with the content areas of health education. The most interesting sentence in this section is ôFor students to achieve health literacy as described in the framework, it is imperative that they extend beyond acquiring knowledge to behaving in health-enhancing ways.ö The importance of developing standards that are measurable and that deal with practical goals was also stressed. I learned that measurable goals include trying to prevent children from using drugs, alcohol and tobacco and other high-risk activities. Along with preventive measures, however, students should be encouraged to choose a healthy lifestyle by eating nutritious foods and becoming physically fit. A health education program should take these factors into account.
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