SOPHE-Environmental-Scan Report on Health Education Teacher Preparation Programs

Research has shown that when health education is delivered effectively in schools, students show improvements in health as well as key academic outcomes (Smith, Potts-Datema, and Nolte, 2005; Chiang, Meagher and Slade, 2015; Brener et al., 2017, Birch et al., 2019).

To deliver effective health education in schools, health teacher preparation programs must provide training in utilizing the WSCC model and coursework in key areas of health education.

A review of health teacher preparation programs throughout the United States was conducted from August 2019 to June 2020.

This review determined whether content in the WSCC model and other key areas of child health (e.g., nutrition, chronic disease, mental health, etc.) were included in health teacher professional preparation curriculum so that teachers are well-prepared to enter practice.