HealthSmart FAQ

The goal of the National Sexuality Education Standards is to provide clear, consistent and straightforward guidance on the essential minimum, core content for sexuality education that is age-appropriate for students in grades K-12. HealthSmart lessons related to sexual health have been aligned with the NSES for Grades K through 12.

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HealthSmart aligns well with many state standards in health education. Detailed alignments for certain states are available on the HealthSmart website, and we are adding more all the time.

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Yes. Each unit in the Teacher Guides for Grades K-2 includes a Portfolio Checklist that lists evidence of student progress, and Grades 3-5 include individual Student Workbooks that serve as a record of student achievement. The Assessment Evidence provided for each lesson links the lesson objectives to specific activities, practice sessions, activity sheets and projects completed within the lesson.

In Middle and High School, objectives for each lesson are linked to clearly identified teaching steps and the corresponding student activity sheets and other performance tasks. New assessment rubrics at these upper grade levels provide scoring guidance to ensure that student mastery can be assessed for every lesson objective. In addition, each subject module in Middle and High School culminates with two overall assessment activities: a written assessment of content and concepts, and a performance task that provides authentic assessment of content and skills through a creative individual or group project.

Yes. Each unit in the Teacher Guides for Grades K-2 includes a Portfolio Checklist that lists evidence of student progress, and Grades 3-5 include individual Student Workbooks that serve as a record of student achievement. The Assessment Evidence provided for each lesson links the lesson objectives to specific activities, practice sessions, activity sheets and projects completed within the lesson.

In Middle and High School, objectives for each lesson are linked to clearly identified teaching steps and the corresponding student activity sheets and other performance tasks. New assessment rubrics at these upper grade levels provide scoring guidance to ensure that student mastery can be assessed for every lesson objective. In addition, each subject module in Middle and High School culminates with two overall assessment activities: a written assessment of content and concepts, and a performance task that provides authentic assessment of content and skills through a creative individual or group project.

The HealthSmart Lesson Planning Tool allows teachers to select HealthSmart lessons in particular content areas that address specific skills and support desired healthy behavior outcomes.

It is based on two powerful documents that define key content, skills and outcomes for health education.

1. The National Health Education Standards set performance indicators around the essential knowledge (Standard 1, Comprehending Concepts) and skills (Standards 2 -8) required for adopting and maintaining healthy behaviors. The Lesson Planning Tool shows you the particular skills covered within your selected content area(s) and lets you choose the ones you wish to address.
2. The CDC's Health Education Curriculum Analysis Tool (HECAT) was designed to guide curriculum selection and development. It builds on the characteristics of effective health education curricula and the National Health Education Standards by identifying the knowledge and skill expectations that will support healthy behavior outcomes (HBOs) for students at various grade levels. The Lesson Planning Tool groups the HealthSmart lessons according to the content areas defined by the HECAT, and allows you to choose which HBOs you wish to address within your selected content area(s).

The Lesson Planning Tool:

• Eliminates hours of lesson planning.
• Combines healthy behavior outcomes and skills to achieve real, measurable success.
• Creates a flexible, responsive plan tailored to the number of health class periods available.
• Generates results that correlate to the CDC's Health Education Curriculum Analysis Tool (HECAT) and the National Health Education Standards (NHES).

Try the Lesson Planning Tool >>

The print and digital editions of HealthSmart teach all of the same content and skills. Lessons are identical for the second edition of Grades K-5 except for differences in formatting for print and online.

For middle and high school, the second edition print and digital lessons are also essentially the same. However, the debrief for homework activities in included in the lesson in which the homework is assigned, rather than being reviewed at the beginning of the following lesson, in case the educator is not be teaching all of the lessons in order.

The Health Education Curriculum Analysis Tool (HECAT) was developed by the CDC to provide guidance to improve curriculum selection and development. The HECAT identifies the healthy behavior outcomes considered to be the most important behaviors to promote in a K-12 health education curriculum, and the corresponding knowledge and skill expectations that must be met at various grade levels in order to achieve these outcomes. The HECAT builds on the characteristics of effective health education curricula and reflects the National Health Education Standards.

HealthSmart was developed to support healthy behavior outcomes for children and youth. The HECAT played a primary role in the development of the second edition of the HealthSmart middle and high school programs. Key concepts and skills required by the HECAT were a driving force in the development of the lesson objectives and assessments in all content areas.

Click here for charts that show the full HECAT alignment for Middle School and High School.

HealthSmart has detailed lesson plans and support materials for teachers. If there is a difficult or controversial topic to teach, the Teacher Guides include additional guidance for discussing and handling the topic in the classroom, including how to answer questions about sexuality and sexual health.

Professional development resources for Grades K-5 are available to purchasers of both the print and digital editions of the program on the HealthSmart website. These free full-length books cover the important content areas of Nutrition & Physical Activity, Tobacco, Safety & Injury, and Sexuality and include guidance on answering difficult questions.

Yes, HealthSmart training is available. ETR offers a 2-day HealthSmart training with a 1-day follow-up booster session. This comprehensive professional development opportunity for educators covers both the characteristics of effective health education curricula and how to use the HealthSmart curriculum, with an implementation booster session offered several months later.

A shorter, less formal day-long orientation to the program is also available.

For questions about training, contact John Henry Ledwith at jhl@etr.org to discuss the best options for your program.

If you are interested in scheduling the formal 2-day training, please complete a Training & TA Request Form >>

Yes, HealthSmart supports the Common Core State Standards for English and Language Arts in the following ways:

 

Reading: Student workbooks for Grade 3 through High School include reading sheets that make the health topic interesting and relevant. Students apply what they've read to the health concepts and skills they are learning. Within the middle and high school lessons, students read and analyze informational text on various health topics, and integrate and apply what they have read to draw conclusions or teach others. They read case studies and make logical inferences about health risks based on what they've learned. They are asked to integrate and evaluate content presented through slides, reading assignments, quizzes and self-assessments, and occasional graphs.

Writing: HealthSmart encourages effective writing by having students express their personal knowledge, ideas and opinions. For example, most middle and high school lessons begin with short writing assignments, and the optional Student Journal provides an ongoing record of these assignments as well as supporting note-taking skills. Assessment activities that promote competency in writing include writing coherent explanations of concepts learned, short narratives or case studies, public service announcements, advice columns and, at the high school level, opinion pieces and fact sheets to share with peers. Through these assignments, students gain practice in writing explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas based on the content they have learned in the lesson, as well as expressing their opinions and supporting claims with logical reasoning and relevant evidence to demonstrate their understanding of the topic.

 

Speaking & Listening: Students gain mastery of speaking and listening skills when they engage in collaborative discussions in pairs, triads, small groups and as a class, which gives them experience in expressing their thoughts clearly and building on the ideas of others. At the middle and high school levels, they also conduct short research projects and then present their claims and findings with relevant evidence and valid reasoning. Refusal, negotiation and other communication skills practice helps them learn to use appropriate eye contact, adequate volume and clear speech.

 

Language: Writing assignments throughout the lessons provide students with practice and teachers with opportunities to assess students' command of grammar and usage conventions, capitalization, punctuation and spelling. Language is developed at middle and high school through the introduction of relevant Health Terms, which are explained by the teacher during the lesson. A comprehensive Glossary is also provided, which may be shared with students.

 

Common Core State Standards Alignment for HealthSmart Middle School >>

Common Core State Standards Alignment for HealthSmart High School >>

Common Core State Standards Alignment for Grades K-6 >>

In the second edition of HealthSmart, Grades K and 3 include specific mention of basic safety around firearms (e.g., never touch a gun or bullets, tell an adult if you find a gun). The High School Violence & Injury Prevention unit includes specific discussion of how the presence of guns or other weapons increases the risk of violent injury. Students examine factors that contribute to violence in a school setting, including the presence of weapons. They work in small groups to brainstorm and discuss how strong emotions, a need for personal power, lack of respect, use of alcohol or other drugs, gang involvement and access to weapons can increase the risk of violence. They practice identifying crisis situations and asking for adult help if there are people who are in danger of hurting themselves or others.

Gun safety is also addressed in the context of injury prevention at both the middle and high school levels. Students propose specific safety strategies for preventing injuries related to the leading causes of death among teens, including firearm injuries. Lessons emphasize the importance of training in the proper use of firearms for sport or hunting, as well as correct cleaning and transportation. There are also lessons that review and practice established school and district procedures to follow in the event of school emergencies, such as lockdowns or intruders, in the Violence & Injury Prevention units at both middle and high school.

In general, the K-12 HealthSmart program builds an overall foundation for preventing violence and injury from many sources. Lessons teach students the skills needed to make safe decisions and identify and deal with unsafe events. For example, students establish guidelines for respect and trust that will help make their classroom a safe place to be. They learn to express strong feelings in healthy ways, manage anger and get help for troublesome feelings. They practice specific skills to change risky or unhealthy behaviors, and learn how to get help from adults if they or others are in danger.

Disordered eating is covered at both the middle and high school levels. Lessons in Nutrition & Physical Activity also cover body image issues and dangers of fad diets or other unhealthy weight-loss methods.

In addition, eating disorders are examined in the context of mental health in the High School Emotional & Mental Health unit. Anorexia and bulimia nervosa are among the common mental health issues that students research and teach each other about.

Many young people today are immersed in online interactions with their peers and others. Bullying lessons in Grades 3-5 provide information about cyberbullying and example scenarios include stories about students who are bullied online. The middle and high school levels of HealthSmart give special attention to students' online activities in the context of violence prevention and sexual health, as well as in terms of accessing reliable online resources across all subject areas.

For example, the Middle School Violence & Injury Prevention lesson on bullying includes cyberbullying as one of the types of bullying students may experience. The discussion is extended in high school, with a separate Violence & Injury Prevention lesson focused solely on cyberbullying. Students examine ways it is similar to and different from traditional bullying, and look at how using communcation technology affects how they interact with and express conflicts with peers.

Lessons at the upper grade levels also help students understand the risks and consequences of sexting, both in the context of cyberbullying, and, in the sexual health units, in terms of behaviors that can contribute or lead to sexual activity or pressures to have sex.

One of the key characteristics of effective health education curricula identified by the CDC is that these programs "use strategies designed to personalize information and engage students." HealthSmart includes many student-centered activities and questions that allow students to apply the content and skills to their lives.

Lessons in the Emotional & Mental Health content area at Grades K-5 help build a foundation for respecting self and others as well as accepting and celebrating differences. Grade 5 includes a lesson on gender roles and gender expression. At the middle and high school levels, language around dating relationships and feelings of attraction has been carefully chosen to avoid making assumptions about sexual orientation or gender identity. In addition, roleplays involving relationships and many of the relationship case study examples use gender-neutral names to avoid assigning a specific sexual orientation to the characters, so that all students can feel represented. Teacher notes alert teachers to places they can model respect for differences around aspects of sexuality.

The sexual health units in particular help address the needs of LGBTQ students in the following ways:

• The Abstinence, Puberty & Personal Health unit for middle school, and the Abstinence, Personal & Sexual Health unit for high school both include discussion of different aspects of sexuality, including sexual orientation and gender identity.
• HIV, STD & Pregnancy Prevention unit at middle school includes a lesson on Stopping Sexual Stereotypes, which teaches about different aspects of sexuality, and how to recognize and challenge stereotypes based on gender roles or sexual identity.
• HIV, STD & Pregnancy Prevention unit at high school includes a lesson on Respecting Sexual Differences, which teaches about different aspects of sexuality and promotes understanding and respect for those differences.
• Throughout the program, language around dating relationships and feelings of attraction has been carefully chosen and many of the roleplays and relationship case study examples use gender-neutral names to avoid making assumptions about sexual orientation and allow all students to feel represented.
• Teacher notes alert teachers to places they can model respect for differences around aspects of sexuality.

The Digital Edition Teacher's Guide is in an e-book format that can be viewed online from any laptop, tablet or mobile device. The lessons cannot be edited or printed out.

No, currently the digital edition student materials are provided as downloadable PDFs that for the teacher's use. They must be printed out for students to complete on paper.

There are quite a few HealthSmart lessons that contribute to students becoming savvy consumers. Some are skill lessons in the areas of media literacy, analyzing influences and evaluating resources, particularly online resources. Others are content lessons in the areas of nutrition education, safety and injury prevention, drug use prevention and personal health, where discussions of products and services are already included or would be appropriate to include. The decision-making model taught in HealthSmart could also be extended and easily applied to consumer education topics.

No, currently the digital edition student materials are provided as downloadable PDFs that for the teacher's use. They must be printed out for students to complete on paper.

The print edition of HealthSmart can be purchased by grade level for K-5, and by individual subject units or complete sets at Middle and High School. Grades K through 2 are $129.99 per grade. Grades 3-5 include a classroom set of 30 student workbooks and are $149.99 per grade. Middle and High School prices are $91.99 per subject unit, with student workbooks available for $3 each, or $549.99 for a complete Middle School or High School set of all 6 units, plus $18 per student for a complete workbook set.

With the digital edition of HealthSmart, users purchase a teacher license that grants a single educator online access to the program, plus a student license fee based on the number of students taught per year. The student license grants the teacher access to the program for a set number of students (a minimum number of students is required). Price breaks are given based on the total number of students, length of the license and special use considerations. Please call to discuss your needs.

For more information about HealthSmart pricing, contact John Henry Ledwith at jhl@etr.org or at 1-888-220-9455 x204.

If you are a current HealthSmart customer and have forgotten or haven't received your login information, please email customerservice@etr.org with your order details.

HealthSmart is considered an evidence-informed program. It incorporates the key features research has identified in those programs that have been found to be effective in changing risk behaviors; however, there has not yet been a rigorous research study of this comprehensive K-12 health education program, so ETR does not call the program evidence based.

More information on how HealthSmart meets all of the 15 characteristics of effective health education programs defined by the CDC can be found on the HealthSmart website.

You don't have to be an expert to provide learning experiences that will help students practice healthy behaviors. Both new and experienced teachers will appreciate the teacher-friendly design, and the program supplies everything needed to teach the lessons. Teacher preparation is minimal, and teaching steps are clearly defined. Because the program is designed to incorporate the characteristics of effective health education curricula and adheres to both the National Health Education Standards and the CDC's Health Education Curriculum Analysis Tool (HECAT) teachers can be sure they are providing the knowledge and skills their students need to become health literate, reduce their health risks and achieve key healthy behavior outcomes.

There are over 375 HealthSmart Lessons across grades K-12. The total number of lessons at each grade level are shown in the table below:

Level	Lessons
Grade K	30
Grade 1	29
Grade 2	26
Grade 3	29
Grade 4	28
Grade 5	38
Middle School	100
High School	96

This depends on how often health classes are taught. The elementary grades are designed to be taught over the course of the school year for each grade, depending on how often teachers address health. At the middle and high school levels, most content units can be taught over a semester, and up to three content units could be taught in a year, if health is taught only once per week. If health is a daily class, it might be possible to cover three or four of the content units in a semester, and all of the units over the course of a year. Teachers can use the online Lesson Planning Tool to help design a course of study that will cover desired content in the time they have available.

Many health education programs throughout the country don't allow enough time for all HealthSmart units and lessons to be taught. If there isn't enough time to teach the entire HealthSmart curriculum, school districts should choose those units and lessons that are aligned with their scope and sequence and/or examine existing local health behavior data to determine the greatest needs for the students in their district.

Our online Lesson Planning Tool enables educators to select particular content areas, skills and healthy behavior outcomes outlined by CDC's Health Education Curriculum Analysis Tool (HECAT) to generate a personal lesson plan that contains the lessons most relevant to their needs and desired outcomes.

Reviewing the HealthSmartScope & Sequence charts for each grade level can assist schools with deciding on a focus. Which healthy behaviors need to be reinforced at your school? Have you identified areas of problem behavior or risk taking? The Scope & Sequence charts identify core concepts, lesson objectives, National Health Education Standards met and healthy behaviors supported by each lesson.

If you must omit some of the lessons in the program, using the Lesson Planning Tool and Scope & Sequence charts will allow you to make an informed decision.

No part of the Teacher Guides or Student Workbooks and other materials may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without prior written consent of ETR.

For the Print Edition, all teacher resources, including the slides, teacher masters, images, student journals, rubrics and answer keys may be copied and distributed for use within a single classroom. Student Workbooks for Grades 3-5, Middle School and High School are available for purchase in sets of 5 or 30, and larger quantity discounts are available.

For the Digital Edition, the teacher license grants a teacher access to all of the lessons and related teacher resources for a given grade level. A separate student license (for a set number of students per year) is required to print and distribute the activity sheets that comprise the Student Workbook. Note that the online access to the program is for teachers, not students.

Contact us at healthsmart@etr.org for more information.

Student Workbooks (or Student Licenses for Digital Edition users) are required for the program for Grade 3 through High School. Student participation is an essential part of any research-based or evidence-informed intervention. The student workbooks provide students with all of the activity sheets used in the program. Having their own workbooks helps ensure student engagement, and also provides educators with a completed portfolio of student work for review and assessment.

Digital Edition users purchase a Student License that allows them to print a predetermined number of copies of the student activity sheets. Users of the Print Edition also have the option to purchase a license to print student materials, rather than using the printed and bound student workbooks. Many schools or agencies also purchase the Digital Edition for their teachers, but provide the printed workbooks for students.

Workbooks can save time and money over duplication costs (see cost comparison chart) and are an easy and complete way to ensure all students have the requisite reading assignments, worksheets, roleplays and other activity sheets.

Cost Comparison for 48-page Student Workbook

HealthSmart Student Workbooks	Typical Copy Prices
Single workbook = $3.00	@ 0.11 per page = $5.28 for single workbook
Classroom set of 30 = $90.00 ($3.00 each)	Price for set of 30 = $100.80 ($3.36 each)
Saddle stitched	Add stapling = $102.30 ($3.41 each)
Full-color heavyweight cover	Add color cover = add $35.40 for 30 ($4.59 each)

It depends on what you need. School districts that are currently using or moving toward using technology in the classroom may find it ideal to have the lessons in a digital format. The digital edition is also cost-effective for schools that are reducing their paper consumption, large districts, or those that want access to the entire K-12 program for one price.

The print edition gives teachers their own individual printed teacher guide and classroom materials, such as colorful classroom posters for grades K-2, and individual student workbooks at the upper grade levels. It's ideal for schools whose teachers prefer a bound book or where teacher/student computer access and/or Internet service is an issue.

See the comparison chart for print versus digital >>

No. HealthSmart allows school districts and/or teachers to determine the order in which units will be taught. However, the Grade K through 5 Teacher Guides are designed to start with Emotional & Mental Health followed by Personal Health & Wellness, and we recommend starting with the Emotional & Mental Health unit in Middle and High School, because these lessons provide an opportunity to establish a supportive classroom atmosphere and help students become comfortable with the teacher and their classmates before moving into other health content areas.

HealthSmart recognizes that parents and family are essential in the health education of children and adolescents. Opportunities for families to be involved are woven throughout the program. Each grade level includes take-home family sheets throughout the lessons that encourage family talks about key health topics. Other take-home activities such as surveys or requests for advice give parents and other family members ways to actively participate in their children and teens' health instruction. The program includes family letters that can be sent home at the start of each unit, to inform parents and guardians about the topics to be addressed.

Developmental Assets represent the relationships, opportunities, and personal qualities that young people need to avoid risks and to thrive. HealthSmart focuses on helping students adopt or maintain targeted health behaviors, which will help them avoid risks and thrive both emotionally and physically.

Media Literacy is the ability to access, analyze, evaluate and create media in a variety of forms. The elementary grades include lessons that ask students to apply what they see on television and in other media to the content they are learning in the lesson and to analyze the influence of media in their lives. At the middle school and high school levels, HealthSmart provides opportunities for students to access, analyze and evaluate the influence of media (including websites, television, movies, music and commercials) on a variety of health behaviors. Students also have opportunities to use a variety of media and technology to complete in-class and take-home assignments.

The National Health Education Standards recommend that students in Pre-K to grade 2 receive a minimum of 40 hours and students in grades 3 to 12 receive a minimum of 80 hours of instruction in health education per academic year.

The HealthSmart program provides a comprehensive curriculum to provide Health Education, one of the essential components of a Coordinated School Health Program. The effectiveness of school health education is enhanced when it is implemented as part of a larger school health program and when health education outcomes are reinforced by the other 7 components in the CSHP model. HealthSmart lessons offer opportunities to involve other components of the CSHP, particularly those activities that engage students as health advocates and allow them to share their learning with the wider school community.

The National Health Education Standards (NHES) detail what students need to know and be able to do in order to achieve health literacy, by setting performance indicators around the functional knowledge and essential skills required for adopting and maintaining healthy behaviors. All lessons in the K-12 curriculum are aligned with NHES, and great emphasis is placed on students having opportunities to become proficient in and master the concepts and skills outlined at each grade level. The specific performance indicators met within each lesson are clearly identified in the lesson overviews.

Click here to learn more.

HealthSmart is grounded in sound educational and behavioral theory. The Theory of Planned Behavior provides the framework for lessons and activities. Concepts from Social Learning Theory are strategically woven throughout the program. The Transtheoretical or Stages of Change Model serves as the foundation for activities designed to support student change of unhealthy behaviors.

In addition, HealthSmart was developed to meet the 15 Characteristics of Effective Health Education Curricula as identified by the CDC Division of Adolescent and School Health.