Health Education

Comprehensive Health Education

Health Education provides students with the knowledge and skills needed to be healthy throughout a lifetime. The intent of a comprehensive health education program is to motivate students to maintain and improve health outcomes, prevent disease, and avoid or reduce health related risk behaviors.

Pursuant to Section (s.) 1003.42(2)(o), Florida Statutes (F.S.), Required instruction, comprehensive health education addresses concepts of community health, consumer health, environmental health and family life. Components of required health education instruction include:

Grades K-12

• Injury prevention and safety

• Internet safety

• Nutrition

• Personal health

• Prevention and control of disease

• Substance use and abuse

• Prevention of child sexual abuse, exploitation, and human trafficking

• Life skills that build confidence, support mental and emotional health, and enable students to overcome challenges.

Grades 6-12

• Awareness of the benefits of sexual abstinence as the expected standard and the consequences of teenage pregnancy

• The effects of social media. This component must include, but need not be limited to, the negative effects of social media on mental health, including addiction; the distribution of misinformation on social media; how social media manipulates behavior; the permanency of sharing materials online; how to maintain personal security and identify cyberbullying, predatory behavior, and human trafficking on the Internet; and how to report suspicious behavior encountered on the Internet.

Grades 7-12

• Teen dating violence and abuse. This component must include, but not be limited to, the definition of dating violence and abuse, the warning signs of dating violence and abusive behavior, the characteristics of healthy relationships, measures to prevent and stop dating violence and abuse and community resources available to victims of dating violence and abuse.

Grades 9-12

• Leadership skills, interpersonal skills, organization and research skills; creating a résumé, including a digital résumé; exploring career pathways; using state career planning resources; developing and practicing the skills necessary for employment interviews; workplace ethics and workplace law; managing stress and expectations; and self-motivation.

State Academic Standards for Health Education

Pursuant to s. 1003.41, F.S., the state academic standards establish the core content of the curricula to be taught in the state and specify the core content knowledge and skills that K-12 public school students are expected to acquire. Furthermore, the state academic standards for health education are based upon established health behavior theories, models, evidence-based research and best practices. State academic standards for health education can be found on the CPALMS webpage.

The following health education strands are relevant throughout all grade levels. Benchmarks are further categorized by standards which include Core Concepts, Internal and External Influence, Prevention and Decision Making and Advocacy.

• Personal Health Concepts (PHC)

• Community and Environmental Health (CEH)

• Consumer Health (CH)

Additional health education strands and standards include:

Resiliency Education (R)

Standards:

1. Character

2. Personal Responsibility

3. Mentorship and Citizenship

4. Critical Thinking and Problem Solving

Substance Use and Abuse (SUA)

Standards:

1. Health promotion and disease prevention concepts

2. Internal and external influence

3. Access to valid information, products and services

4. Communication skills and resilient behaviors to reduce health risks

5. Advocacy for personal, family and community health

Benchmark Clarifications and Examples

The state academic standards include benchmarks, clarifications and examples. The standard is a general statement that identifies what the student is expected to achieve. The benchmark identifies what the student will know and be able to do by the end of each grade. Benchmark clarifications and examples support instruction by providing the extent to which benchmarks should be taught. Strands are reflective of required health education instruction according to s. 1003.42(2)(o), F.S. Health Education Standards (PDF)

Building Resiliency

• Florida is leading a first-in-the-nation approach that empowers students to persevere and overcome life's inevitable challenges.

• State Board of Education Rule 6A-1.094124, F.A.C., Required Instruction Planning and Reporting, requires school districts to annually provide a minimum of five (5) hours of data-driven instruction to students in Grades 6 through 12 related to civic and character education and life skills education through resiliency education using the health education standards adopted in Rule 6A-1.09401, F.A.C., Student Performance Standards. Such instruction includes strategies to develop healthy characteristics that reinforce positive core values and foster resiliency.

• For more information and resiliency education resources, please visit the Resiliency Florida webpage.

The Facts. Your Future.

• The Facts. Your Future. initiative provides free resources, including a school curriculum that increases students’ knowledge on the life-altering effects of substance misuse.

• Substance use and abuse health education is required by Rule 6A-1.94124, F.A.C., Required Instruction Planning and Reporting. Such instruction should advance each year through developmentally appropriate instruction and skill building.

• To explore additional resources that can encourage students to remain drug free and support others, please visit The Facts. Your Future. webpage.

  Click here: Sexual Health Education 

 FLDOE Comprehensive Health Education Tool Kit 

Health and Wellness Required Instruction 

Health Education Related Rule Information

Section 1003.42, Florida Statutes, outlines the topics that must be taught in Florida’s public schools as part of required instruction. The Florida Department of Education supports districts in fulfilling these requirements through guidance, resources and tools to ensure students receive instruction that promotes civic responsibility, character development, historical understanding and digital safety. 

Each district is required to submit an annual implementation plan outlining how it will meet the requirements of the statute. The plan must be submitted no later than July 1 of each year. 

Health and Life Skills Education (K–12)

• General Health Topics: Personal, environmental and community health; safety; nutrition; disease prevention; substance abuse.

• Internet Safety: Required across K–12.

• Sexual Abuse and Human Trafficking Prevention

• Teen Dating Violence (Grades 7–12)

• Sexual Abstinence and Pregnancy Prevention (Grades 6–12)

Civic and Character Education and Life Skills Education Through Resiliency Education Related Rule Information

• Civic and Character Education and Life Skills Education Through Resiliency Education 

• 6A-1.094124 Required Instruction Planning and Reporting. 

• School districts must annually provide a minimum of five (5) hours of data driven instruction to students in grades 6-12 related to civic and character education and life skills education through resiliency education using the health education standards adopted in Rule 6A-1.09401, F.A.C., Student Performance Standards. 

• The instruction for youth mental and emotional health will advance each year through developmentally appropriate instruction and skill building and must address, at a minimum, the following topics:

1. Strategies specific to demonstrating resiliency through adversity, including the benefits of service to the community through volunteerism.    

2. Strategies to develop healthy characteristics that reinforce positive core values and foster resiliency such as:

                              a. Empathy, perseverance, grit, gratitude, and responsibility

                              b. Critical thinking, problem solving, and responsible decision making.

                              c. Self-awareness and self-management

                              d. Mentorship and citizenship

                              e. Honesty

3.  Recognition of the signs and symptoms of mental health concerns

           4. Promotion of resiliency to empower youth to persevere and reverse the harmful stigma of mental health by reframing the approach from mental health education to resiliency education.

            5.  Strategies to support a peer, friend, or family member through adversity   

            6. Prevention of suicide

            7. Prevention of the abuse of and addiction to alcohol, nicotine, and drugs

            8. Awareness of local and community resources and the process for accessing assistance  

Florida Standards for Health Education

The Florida Standards for Health Education are based upon established health behavior theories, models, and evidence-based research, as well as best practices. Florida’s Health Education standards include the following:

1. Core Concepts

2. Internal and External Influence

3. Accessing Information

4. Interpersonal Communication

5. Decision Making

6. Goal Setting

7. Self-Management

8. Advocacy

9. Character Education

10. Substance Use and Abuse

The standards are structured by Standards and Benchmarks. The Standard is a general statement that identifies what the student is expected to achieve. The Benchmark identifies what the student will know and be able to do by the end of each of the grade.           

 Human Trafficking Awareness

Human Trafficking, under both federal and Florida law, is defined as the transporting, soliciting, recruiting, harboring, providing or obtaining of another person for transport; for the purposes of forced labor, domestic servitude or sexual exploitation using force, fraud and/or coercion. Human trafficking is modern slavery.

There are approximately 30 million people enslaved throughout the world with 2.5 million located right here in the United States.

• Many of these victims are lured with false promises of financial or emotional security; instead, they are forced or coerced into commercial sex (prostitution), domestic servitude or other types of forced labor.

• Any minor under the age of 18 who is induced to perform a commercial sex act is a victim of human trafficking according to U.S. law, regardless of whether there is force, fraud or coercion. Increasingly, criminal organizations, such as gangs, are luring children from local schools into commercial sexual exploitation or trafficking.

• According to the U.S. Department of Justice, every two minutes a child is trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation in the United States.

If you suspect a child is a victim, please call the Florida Abuse Hotline at 1-800-96-ABUSE or 911.

If you See Something, Say Something - 1-855-FLA-SAFE (1-855-352-7233)

National Center for Missing & Exploited Children CyberTipline 

National Human Trafficking Hotline  -1-888-373-7888

BeFree Textline  Text "BeFree" (233733)

For more information and resources, please visit the FLDOE Human Trafficking webpage: Human Trafficking.

Florida Statute - Human Trafficking 

Mollie Vega, Director-Secondary Programs

   Vega.Mollie@brevardschools.org

321-633-1000 ext. 11310

Danielle O'Reilly, Content Specialist

K-12 Health/PE, Driver Education, and JROTC

oreilly.danielle@brevardschools.org

321-633-1000 ext. 11387