Health Education
Instruction related to health education should be provided to students to help them access valid and medically accurate information
about their health, acquire skills to make healthy decisions, and analyze what influences health and wellness. A variety of school
staff may teach health education and integrate health lessons into their classrooms, but health education lessons and curriculum
should be aligned to the Colorado Academic Comprehensive Health Education Standards (CDE, 2016) and school staff teaching these
standards should receive relevant professional development.
Figure 5.1 depicts that over three-quarters of
schools have health education instruction that
aligns with Colorado’s Comprehensive Health
Education Standards.
FIGURE 5.1
Percentage of schools that align health education instruction with the
Comprehensive Health Education Standards
The standards specify that teaching health skills
(e.g., comprehend concepts, analyze influences,
access valid information) be prioritized over
focusing only on topic areas. However, fewer
elementary schools report prioritizing health skills
(Figure 5.2) despite 79 percent responding they
align with the standards. Even fewer elementary
schools (45 percent) report teaching sexual health
education despite the standards specifying that
in 5th grade, students should be able to “apply
knowledge and skills necessary to make personal
decisions that promote healthy relationships and
sexual and reproductive health” (CDE, 2016).
Figure 5.2 also highlights how schools are creative
in implementing the standards, as between 60-68% of schools report embedding health standards into core content instruction.
FIGURE 5.2
Percentage of schools wtih practices in implementation of health education
Table 5.1 highlights the average number of academic units of
health education required by schools for secondary students
before graduating or advancing out of the school. As schools
follow different academic schedules, the table is split into
semesters, quarters, and trimesters. As referenced in Table
4.1, schools require almost twice the amount of physical
education as compared to health education. Furthermore, no
school level required a full academic year of health education
before advancing out of school.
TABLE 5.1
Average required academic units of health education for
secondary students
• 9 •
Secondary
Combined
Semester
1.1
1.0
Quarter
1.9
2.2
Trimester
1.3
0.6