Healthy Youth Act
Curriculum Approval
February 23-25, 2011
Vancouver Washington
Kathy White
Kennewick School Director, Position 3
In 2005, the Washington State legislature passed the Health Youth Act which directed the Department of Health (DOH) and the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) to jointly establish The Guidelines for Sexual Health Information and Disease Prevention. For the second time, I participated in the curriculum review to set up those guidelines to assist school districts select curriculum for their students. I answered a call for reviewers and was chosen to do this because of my experience teaching health in middle and high school as well as my graduate degree in “Health and Safety Studies.”
This year there were twelve reviewers, twenty-two curricula, one coordinator from OSPI and one statistician. The goal was to have each curriculum reviewed three times. The reviewers were teachers, nurses, administrators, community members and one school board director, me. This year, for the first time, we used a new tool, “Health Education Curriculum Analysis Tool (HECAT).” The HECAT builds on the characteristics of effective health education curricula and the “National Health Education Standards” for schools which reflect the importance of
- Using science to improve practice.
- Parent and community involvement in the review and selection of curriculum.
- Local authority in setting health education priorities, determining health education content, and making curriculum selection decisions.
- Flexibility to accommodate different values, priorities, and curriculum needs of communities and schools.
All of the curricula were evaluated on the eight standards designated in the national standards:
#1Students will comprehend concepts related to health promotion and disease prevention to enhance health.
#2 Students will analyze the influence of family, peers, culture, media, technology and other factors on health behaviors
#3 Students will demonstrate the ability to access valid information and products and services to enhance health.
#4 Students will demonstrate the ability to use interpersonal communication skills to enhance health and avoid or reduce health risks.
#5 Students will demonstrate the ability to use decision-making skills to enhance health.
#6 Students will demonstrate the ability to use goal-setting skills to enhance health.
#7 Students will demonstrate the ability to practice health-enhancing behaviors and avoid or reduce health risks.
#8 Students will demonstrate the ability to advocate for personal, family and community health.
It took two and a half days to accomplish the task. We began on Wednesday at one o’clock in the afternoon. Most of this afternoon was spent learning to use the HECAT tool. We did start reading curricula and finished between 4:30 and 5. The next day we were scheduled to meet for breakfast at 7:30 AM at the Evergreen School District office. However, a snow storm changed our plans. We had breakfast at our hotel and car pooled (as few vehicles as possible) at 9 AM. The sun was now shining and, thankfully, the snow was melting. We worked/read all day with a working lunch catered to the group until 5 PM, to find most of the snow gone! This evening we had a group dinner at the hotel and enjoyed the camaraderie of peers. Friday, we also had breakfast at the hotel, as that proved most efficient. We were all reading curriculum with the added task of discussing wide variations in results. The statistician found the large variations and asked the participants to discuss their findings. There was no pressure to change a stated conclusion and the discussions were interesting. I was involved in some of these and in one case saw something I had missed and made a change but in another stood by the decision I originally made. Again we had a catered lunch and those of us who had a distance to go home left about 3:30 PM.
This is the second time I participated in the curriculum review. I am told I am on the list for next year. All the expenses and arrangements were made by OSPI. The results of our evaluations will be available to school districts this spring. All reviews are anonymous with a numerical score attached to each curriculum.
