Knowledge of health education curriculum, instruction, and assessment
This domain tests how you build and align health education: standards, scope and sequence, skill-based lessons, instructional strategies, and assessment that matches objectives.
Standards and design
Florida's health education standards are organized around health literacy and the Next Generation Sunshine State Standards; national practice uses the National Health Education Standards (NHES), which contain eight standards-health literacy concepts plus seven skills. The skills are accessing valid information, analyzing influences, interpersonal communication, decision-making, goal-setting, self-management, and advocacy. CDC's characteristics of effective health education curricula emphasize clear health goals, functional knowledge, shaping norms, developing skills, and practice. Backward design: identify desired results, determine acceptable evidence, then plan instruction.
Instruction
Skill-based lessons teach and rehearse behaviors (refusal, negotiation, help-seeking) with modeling, guided practice, and feedback. Use cooperative learning, role-play, demonstrations, case studies, and technology. Ground rules for sensitive topics: privacy, voluntary participation, no personal disclosures, respectful language. Differentiate by readiness, language, and culture; avoid one-size-fits-all lectures.
Assessment
Formative assessment is ongoing (exit tickets, observation checklists, questioning) and informs teaching. Summative assessment judges learning at the end (performance task, test, project). Match method to objective: a refusal-skills objective needs a role-play rubric, not a multiple-choice recall test. Use rubrics with observable criteria, pre/post measures, and authentic tasks. Ensure validity (measures the objective) and reliability (consistent scoring).
Worked example: A 7th-grade objective is 'Students will demonstrate two refusal strategies in a simulated peer-pressure situation.' Evidence should be a role-play scored by a rubric listing eye contact, a clear 'no,' an alternative suggestion, and exit. A 10-item vocabulary quiz samples knowledge, not the interpersonal objective, so it is misaligned. Reasoning: identify the verb (demonstrate), then choose a task that requires the behavior.
Traps: confusing formative with summative; writing activities that lack measurable objectives; assessing attitude with a knowledge test; covering content without practice; using group grades for individual skills; ignoring cultural relevance or trauma triggers.