Texas Administrative Code › Title 19 - EDUCATION › Part 2 - TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY › Chapter 115 - TEXAS ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS FOR HEALTH EDUCATION › Subchapter C - HIGH SCHOOL › Section 115.38 - Health I (One-Half Credit), Adopted 2020

Current through Reg. 49, No. 28; July 12, 2024
(a) General requirements. Students shall be
				  awarded one-half credit for successful completion of this course. This course
				  is recommended for students in Grades 9-12.
(b) Introduction.
(1) The goal of health education is to
				  provide instruction that allows youth to develop and sustain health-promoting
				  behaviors throughout their lives. The understanding and application of these
				  standards will allow students the ability to gather, interpret, and understand
				  health information; achieve health literacy; and adapt to the ever-evolving
				  science of health. The health education knowledge and skills should be
				  presented to students in a positive manner to support the development of a
				  healthy self-concept and responsible decision making. The standards will help
				  students reinforce, foster, and apply positive character traits.
(2) There are essential skills that repeat
				  throughout six strands and embody the interconnection of health literacy. These
				  skills include decision making, problem solving, goal setting, maintaining
				  healthy relationships with self and others, seeking help and support, and
				  recognizing various influences on health such as social, environmental, media,
				  and genetic. These skills, developed early on and reinforced throughout a
				  student's education, will foster mastery of health concepts. Health class
				  educators are encouraged to partner with school counselors where available to
				  schedule time for them to deliver classroom guidance lessons to help teach
				  these essential competencies. In addition, areas in the standards related to
				  abuse, neglect, violence, loss, grief, trauma, and suicide may directly affect
				  some students in the classroom. Should the educator recognize signs of
				  discomfort with instruction in these areas, students should be referred to the
				  appropriate resource, identified ahead of such instruction, for additional help
				  and support.
(3) Students will gain
				  an understanding of health information and skills through six strands: physical
				  health and hygiene; mental health and wellness; healthy eating and physical
				  activity; injury and violence prevention and safety; alcohol, tobacco, and
				  other drugs; and reproductive and sexual health.
(A) Physical health and hygiene education
				  helps to prepare students for improved lifelong health outcomes. Learning about
				  body systems lays the foundation for personal health and hygiene. Health
				  literacy and preventative behaviors empowers students to make informed choices
				  to support self, family, and community.
(B) The mental health and wellness strand
				  recognizes that the knowledge and skills necessary to manage emotions,
				  reactions, and relationships are essential to reaching one's full potential.
				  Students gain knowledge about social and emotional health, including developing
				  a healthy self-concept, understanding risk and protective factors, and
				  identifying and managing mental health and wellness concerns. In the early
				  grades, students develop fluency around emotions and self-regulation and
				  understand the relationship between feelings, thoughts, and behavior. In
				  subsequent grades, students learn and practice appropriate ways to solve
				  interpersonal conflicts, work to develop a positive self-image, and develop
				  healthy self-management skills.
(C)
				  The healthy eating and physical activity strand addresses the importance of
				  nutrition and physical activity to support a healthy lifestyle. Students apply
				  critical-thinking and decision-making skills to make positive health choices.
				  Students learn about essential nutrients, food groups, portion control,
				  government nutritional recommendations, and the health benefits of being
				  physically active. Students evaluate the connection between physical activity
				  and nutrition and the prevention of chronic diseases.
(D) By focusing on injury and violence
				  prevention and safety, the standards promote student well-being and awareness
				  of dangerous situations. Supporting student well-being and providing
				  instruction in digital citizenship, bullying prevention, first aid, and
				  identification of safe and unsafe situations creates empowered and educated
				  students who are able to make decisions that keep themselves and others safe.
				  Beginning in Kindergarten and continuing through high school, students gain
				  knowledge and skills to support safety and wellness at school, at home, online,
				  and in the community.
(E) The
				  standards under the alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs strand focus on a number
				  of protective factors that develop empowered students who are able to make
				  better-informed decisions, including understanding the impact of substance use
				  on physical, mental, and social health. Through this strand, students learn key
				  concepts about alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs, including the use, misuse,
				  and physiological effects; short- and long-term impacts on health; treatment;
				  risk and protective factors; and prevention. These concepts introduce healthy
				  alternatives and ways for students to ask for and seek out help from parents
				  and other trusted adults.
(F) In
				  the reproductive and sexual health strand, students identify the
				  characteristics of healthy and unhealthy relationships and learn to use
				  communication and refusal skills to set personal boundaries and develop
				  strategies for responding to sexual harassment and abuse. Students describe the
				  changes associated with adolescent development and explain the process of
				  fertilization, fetal development, and the importance of prenatal care. Students
				  also learn that sexual abstinence until marriage is the only 100% effective
				  means of avoiding unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted
				  diseases/sexually transmitted infections (STDs/STIs) as well as the legal,
				  financial, and social issues associated with sexual health and
				  reproduction.
(4) An
				  integral part of health education involves educators being aware of state laws
				  relevant to human sexuality instruction. These laws include affirming:
(A) a local school district's control over
				  the provision of human sexuality instruction to ensure that local community
				  values are reflected in that instruction (Texas Education Code (TEC),
				  §28.004(e)-(h));
(B) the right
				  of a parent or legal guardian to be informed of the provision of human
				  sexuality instruction to their child and review the content of that instruction
				  (TEC, §
												28.004(i)-(j)
				  );
(C) the right of a parent or
				  legal guardian to remove their child from any portion of human sexuality
				  instruction without penalty to the child (TEC, §
												28.004(i)
				  );
(D) the centrality of abstinence
				  education in any human sexuality curriculum (TEC, §
												28.004(e)
				  ); and
(E) the right of a parent or
				  legal guardian to be informed of and consent to an abortion performed on their
				  pregnant child (with judicially authorized or medical emergency exceptions)
				  (Texas Family Code, Chapter 33).
(5) Educators also should be aware of and
				  abide by the statutory prohibition on taxpayer resource transactions between
				  state governmental entities, including public schools, and abortion providers
				  or an affiliate of an abortion provider (Texas Government Code, Chapter
				  2272).
(6) Statements containing
				  the word "including" reference content that must be mastered, while those
				  containing the phrase "such as" are intended as possible illustrative
				  examples.
(7) Students should first
				  seek guidance in the area of health from a parent or legal guardian.