Health Education

Children who Learn to Live Healthy, Live Longer

Health education is one of eight components of a coordinated school health plan. A strong, comprehensive health education program in grades K-12 helps students achieve their highest potential as they grow into healthy, confident and competent individuals.

What does a Comprehensive Health Education Program include?

  • Planned, sequential, K-12 curriculum that addresses the physical, mental,
    emotional and social dimensions of health.
  • Curriculum designed to motivate and assist students to maintain and improve their health,
    prevent disease, and reduce health-related risk behaviors.
  • Opportunities for students to develop and demonstrate increasingly sophisticated
    health-related knowledge, attitudes, skills, and practices.
  • Qualified, trained teachers to provide health education.
What is required by law for health education?
  • By September 2007 elementary schools must be trained in and implement a
    coordinated school health curriculum
  • Valley Mills ISD chose Healthy and Wise for their coordinated school health curriculum
  • Secondary school students must have one half credit of TEKS
    (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills) based health education to graduate

How Valley Mills ISD is complying with school health law:

  • 2009 Health Statues Checklist Child Health Organization Resources Available

American Academy of Pediatrics
http://www.aap.org
The mission of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is to attain optimal physical, mental and social health and well-being for all infants, children, adolescents and young adults. The AAP and its member pediatricians dedicate their efforts and resources to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults.

National Information Center for Children and Youth with Disabilities
http://www.kidsource.com/NICHCY/
The National Center for Youth with Disabilities (NCYD) is a project of the University of Minnesota's Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Health and is affiliated with the Society for Adolescent Medicine. NCYD was established as an information and resource center focusing on adolescents with chronic illnesses and disabilities.

The National Network for Immunization Information
http://www.immunizationinfo.org/
The National Network for Immunization Information provides up-to-date, science-based information to health care professionals, the media, policy makers, and the public - everyone who needs to know the facts about immunization.

School Health at the American Academy of Pediatrics
http://www.schoolhealth.org
The information on this site is intended for pediatricians and other health professionals working in or with schools.

Kids Count
http://www.aecf.org/kidscount
KIDS COUNT, a project of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, is a national and state-by-state effort to track the status of children in the U.S. By providing policymakers and citizens with benchmarks of child well-being, KIDS COUNT seeks to enrich local, state, and national discussions concerning ways to secure better futures for all children.

National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/index.htm
The National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP) consists of the Division of Adolescent and School Health, the Division of Adult and Community Health, the Division of Diabetes Translation, the Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity, the Division of Reproductive Health, and the Office on Smoking and Health.

Center for the Prevention of School Violence
http://www.ncdjjdp.org/cpsv/
Established in 1993 as an affiliate of the Governor's Crime Commission in the Department of Crime Control and Public Safety, the Center is a primary point of contact for information, programs, and research about preventing school violence.

P.A.P.A. Parenting and Paternity Awareness (p.a.p.a.)
p.a.p.a. is an innovative educational curriculum designed for secondary school students and young adults that deals with "rights, responsibilities, and realities of parenting." Key themes in the curriculum focus on the importance of father involvement, the value of paternity establishment, the legal realities of child support, the financial and emotional challenges of single parenting, the benefits of both parents being involved in the life of a child.