Health Education (Subtest 1)
Subtest 1 of the MTTC Health and Physical Education exam (112) assesses readiness to teach comprehensive school health education, K–12. It samples health content knowledge (nutrition, substance use, safety, social-emotional health, HIV/STD), the Michigan Health Education Grade Level Content Expectations (GLCEs), skill-based pedagogy, assessment, and the legal and professional context of Michigan schools. Questions typically ask for the best instructional response, not mere recall.
Core rules and concepts
- Skills-based health literacy. Michigan's GLCEs pair content areas with health skills: accessing information, analyzing influences, goal setting, decision making, interpersonal communication, refusal, self-management, and advocacy. Strong instruction has students practice a skill in realistic scenarios.
- Michigan Model for Health. This is Michigan's main coordinated, skills-based curriculum aligned to the GLCEs; it is not the same as the WSCC model.
- Coordinated school health / WSCC. The Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child model has 10 components, including health education, physical education and physical activity, nutrition environment and services, health services, counseling/psychological/social services, social and emotional climate, physical environment, employee wellness, family engagement, and community involvement. Health education is one component, not the whole model.
- Effective curriculum characteristics. CDC's Characteristics of Effective Health Education Curricula emphasize functional knowledge, clear health-related goals, research-based strategies, and opportunities to practice and reinforce skills-not scare tactics.
- Michigan legal specifics. Michigan sex education and HIV/STD laws require age-appropriate, medically accurate instruction that emphasizes abstinence and includes refusal skills; parents receive notice and may opt out. Confidentiality under FERPA and mandated reporting also appear.
Worked example
A teacher wants students to evaluate a fast-food meal. The strongest plan has students use a nutrition label and a decision-making model (identify the decision, list options, weigh consequences, choose, reflect), then justify a choice in writing. That aligns with the nutrition GLCE and the decision-making skill, and it produces assessment evidence. A plan that only lectures on calories addresses content but not the skill standard.
Traps that cost marks
- Treating health education as a list of facts rather than a skills-based process.
- Selecting fear-based or 'just say no' lessons; the exam favors practice, feedback, and reinforcement.
- Forgetting Michigan's abstinence emphasis and parental opt-out rules in sex education/HIV items.
- Confusing the WSCC model with a single program or with school health services alone.