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 Coordinated
School Health Programs
Comprehensive
School Health Education
Growing
Healthy Overview
 Highlights
of Growing Healthy
Grade
Specific Content
Growing
Healthy Components
Who
Says This Program is Effective?
Project
Facilitators
Adopting
Growing Healthy
Funding
Growing Healthy
FAQ's
Growing Healthy, America's first comprehensive school health
education curriculum, is designed to provide school health teachers
with the tools they need to effectively teach health education.
The first segment of the Growing Healthy curriculum, a comprehensive
health education prototype for grades 4, 5, 6, and 7, was developed
during the 1960's in California. With support from the Public
Health Service, US Department of Health and Human Services, the
curriculum became the School Health Curriculum Project (SHCP)
and was tested extensively throughout the country. SHCP became
known informally as the Berkeley program.
Complementing this curriculum for grades 4-7, the Centers for
Disease Control's Bureau of Health Education-now the CDC Division
of Adolescent and School Health-and the American Lung Association
collaborated between 1974 and 1978 to develop the Primary Grades
Health Curriculum Project (PGHCP), a health education program
for K-3 students.
In stressing aspects of health such as personal health habits
and values, self-esteem, and decision-making skills, both curricula
transcended traditional hygiene and disease-focused approaches
to health education. In 1978, the two components were forged into
a single, sequential health education program, which later came
to be called Growing Healthy. At that time, it was the first comprehensive
health education curriculum in the country. Since then, with NCHE
managing the ongoing development and dissemination of Growing
Healthy, the program has reached more than 5 million children
in grades K-6 in 15,000 schools throughout the country.
As a result of its commitment to accurate, effective, and up-to-date
health education, Growing Healthy was recognized by the National
Diffusion Network (NDN) in 1984 as an exemplary curriculum and
became one of the most widely adopted NDN curricula of any kind.
In 1986, 1991, and 1996, the National Center for Health Education
conducted revisions of Growing Healthy, which were led by professional
curriculum developers and health educators and were based on widespread
input from teachers and trainers experienced in implementing the
curriculum.
In 1991, representatives of nearly 40 national educational and
health organizations addressed ways of improving the welfare of
America's children by strengthening health education. Their plan
of action included the development of standards that describe
for schools, parents, and communities what health education should
enable children to do. In summary, a school health education curriculum
that meets these National Health Education Standards prepares
students to:
 Understand health
promotion and disease prevention concepts
Know how to access
valid health information, products, and services
Develop positive
health behaviors
Analyze the influence
of culture, media, and technology on health; use interpersonal
communications skills to enhance health
Develop plans
through individual goal setting and decision making
Become advocates
for good individual, family, and community health
Growing Healthy meets or exceeds the performance indicators established
for the National Health Education Standards at all grade levels.
For more information about Growing Healthy, contact Ray Marks
at ray@nche.org or 212-463-4053.
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