HealthSmart is a K–12, skills-based health education program that empowers students to think, choose, and act in healthy ways
Why Choose HealthSmart?
Equitable access to high-quality health education curriculum is more critical than ever in helping students adopt and maintain the healthy behaviors needed for school success.
HealthSmart is the only health education curriculum available for schools today that is…
Skills-Based Learning
The primary goal of HealthSmart is to use science-informed approaches to impact students' health behaviors in positive ways. Most health textbooks provide information about a range of topics related to health, but knowledge alone is not enough to change health behaviors. HealthSmart lessons are designed to not only impart key health concepts, but also provide practice in critical health skills that will help children and teens achieve healthy behavior outcomes across all health content areas.
Learn more about how HealthSmart uses a
skills-based approach to learning
Flexible Options to Meet Your Needs
HealthSmart is comprised of over 400 lessons across Grades K–12, allowing schools and districts the autonomy for local decision making to ensure all lessons align to state standards and local policies. Schools can select their lesson plans, opt out of any content that does not meet their needs, and feel confident they are providing high-quality, skills-based health education to the students in their community.
HealthSmart Is Available for Multiple Grade-Levels!
HealthSmart lessons are easy to use, with clear, concise teaching steps focused on the essential concepts and skills that will enable students to develop, practice, and support healthy behaviors. Select a grade level to learn more.
Ready to dive in?
Get your free preview of HealthSmart!
Access a free 30-day sample of HealthSmart lessons!
Get StartedFormat Options
The HealthSmart curriculum is available in both print and digital formats for all grade levels. Schools can consider which format best meets the needs of their learning community, such as how teachers use print and digital materials in their classroom, access to printing services, and virtual learning for students. Select a format option to learn more.
Compare Formats
| Features | Digital | Integrated | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Printed Teacher Guide | Included | Not included | Not included |
| Printed Student Workbooks | Included | Not included | Not included |
| Access to online supplemental tools and resources | Included | Included | Included |
| Digital Teacher Guide | Not included | Included | Included |
| Digital Lessons | Not included | Included | Included |
| Digital Student Worksheets | Not included | Included | Included |
| Option to download, upload, and print materials | Not included | Included | Included |
| Educator accounts on the HealthSmart site for curriculum access* | *Online teacher resources only | Included | Not included |
| Single Sign-On (SSO) to HealthSmart for users to access the curriculum | Not included | Not included | Included |
| Assign student work in the LMS | Not included | Not included | Included |
| Grade student work in the LMS | Not included | Not included | Included |
| Student complete worksheets in the LMS course | Not included | Not included | Included |
| Customize topic and lesson access to users | Not included | Included | Included |
| Multi-year subscription options | Not included | Included | Included |
Student Resources Available in English and Spanish!
Testimonial 1
“My first graders loved making their own 'my family' storybooks and having the time to share some information about their own families. We also added in compliments for this lesson and ended each class by giving each other compliments. This made the students feel proud, excited, and confident.”
Educator using HealthSmart Grades K-5
Testimonial 2
“My sixth-grade class was discussing grief and loss during the unit on Emotional & Mental Health, which included a segment on how to find trusted adults for support. One student shared that his two cousins died the night before in a car crash. I gently affirmed his feelings and offered my condolences. When class ended, three students went over to give the grieving student hugs.”
Educator using HealthSmart Middle School
Implementation Support
HealthSmart is easy for teachers to implement, with clear learning objectives, teaching steps and helpful online resources. Teachers can also receive training and professional development to help them deliver the program most effectively. Learn more about training options.
How HealthSmart Can Benefit YOU!
Mix and match to meet your district’s goals
HealthSmart is an evidence-informed, skills-based health education curriculum program that aligns to the National Health Education Standards and state standards. Schools and districts can purchase access to different formats to fit their unique circumstances.
- Teachers can use the print edition teacher’s guide, and the district can purchase a digital student license to make student materials available for students to complete on a laptop at school or from home.
- Schools or agencies may purchase the digital edition for their teachers and choose to purchase printed workbooks for students who don’t have access to technology.
HealthSmart is fully compatible with learning management systems by meeting rigorous Learning Tools Interoperability standards including LTI 1.3. HealthSmart integrated digital provides ease of use for educators while also ensuring accessibility for all students with:
- Easy sign-on with school district credentials
- Point-and-click assignment of student activities
- Tracking and reporting on student learning
- ADA-compliant and fully responsive student materials
ETR can provide professional development to ensure effective implementation. Please note that HealthSmart protects student information. Only teachers receive a login to the platform and no student information is collected.
HealthSmart empowers educators to guide their students toward acquisition of skills to support a lifelong path of health literacy.
HealthSmart is one of the most up to date and medically accurate health curricula available for schools today. Every lesson plan is a detailed teaching script that includes everything a teacher needs to support student success in the classroom.
What materials come with the curriculum?
The lessons are available in both print and digital formats. Review and teach the lessons from your copy of the print edition book or access the lessons online with a digital edition subscription. Online lessons link directly to slides, keys, masters, scoring rubrics and other teacher materials. Print edition users can access these teacher materials online.
The PowerPoint slides are used to present key concepts, prompt discussion and guide group activities include all the notes for the lesson, making it easy to present the lesson in both in-person and virtual classrooms.
Printed student workbooks for Grade 3 through High School provide students with all of the reading and activity sheets used in the program. Having their own printed and bound workbooks can help ensure student engagement and provide educators with a complete portfolio of student work for review and assessment. Student workbooks include both formative and summative assessments that are aligned to standards and are available in both English and Spanish. With the digital format, teachers can download fillable PDFs of reading and activity sheets, or have students complete assignments online directly in the school's learning management system.
Does HealthSmart include assessment tools to use with students?
Yes. As standards become more and more embedded in the fabric of health education, teachers need a way to evaluate students’ work and show that the learning objectives were truly met.
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. 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.
Will HealthSmart work with my school's LMS?
HealthSmart is fully compatible with learning management systems by meeting rigorous Learning Tools Interoperability standards including LTI 1.3. HealthSmart integrated digital provides ease of use for educators while also ensuring accessibility for all students with:
- Easy sign-on with school district credentials
- Point-and-click assignment of student activities
- Tracking and reporting on student learning
- ADA-compliant and fully responsive student materials
HealthSmart recognizes that parents and family are essential in the health education of children and adolescents, and 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’s and teens’ health instruction. At the Middle and High School levels, the program includes family letters that can be sent home at the start of each content area unit, to inform parents and guardians about the topics to be addressed.
See a list of the family activities?in the different grade levels.
The health class can be a place where students’ real-world concerns can be addressed with practical knowledge and skills they can apply to their own lives.
How does HealthSmart support and motivate students?
HealthSmart includes many student-centered activities and questions that allow students to apply the content and skills to their lives. 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.”? Students build a personal value for health as they explore their attitudes and beliefs about different aspects of health and examine the potential outcomes of health choices. The curriculum also focuses on shaping healthy peer norms, so that students feel supported in healthy choices by the expectations and examples of peers and family members.
How does the HealthSmart curriculum personalize student learning?
In an ideal HealthSmart learning environment, students feel empowered to participate and contribute as they learn concepts and practice skills that will lead to healthy behavior choices. Lessons encourage discussion and student input. The educator guides students in first exploring attitudes, beliefs, norms, and/or the relevance of a particular health topic to their lives. Knowledge-based lessons present information through interactive discussion and frequent small-group work, while skills-based lessons involve explanation and modeling by the educator followed by hands-on practice through roleplays, small-group work and student projects.
HealthSmart is the nation’s leading skills-based health education curriculum that can fully support implementation of the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) approach for schools. Health Education is one of the essential components of the WSCC framework.
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 nine components in the WSCC model. HealthSmart lessons offer opportunities to involve other components of WSCC, particularly those activities that engage students as health advocates and allow them to share their learning with the larger school community.
The clarity and detail of every HealthSmart lesson allows it to be easily implemented across other components of the WSCC model including health services; counseling, psychological, and social services; and nutrition environment and services.
Ready to dive in?
Get your free preview of HealthSmart!
Access a free 30-day sample of HealthSmart lessons!
Get Started