The materials were recommended by two district committees, which included input from staff, parents and community members, following an extensive review process that started at the beginning of this school year.
The process to select new materials was caused by the Texas Board of Education’s recent adoption of new TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills) standards for all public school health and PE classrooms. The new health TEKS include a number of topics for which parents must opt their children in for instruction.
A committee of HPSD staff, along with the district’s School Health Advisory Council (SHAC), reviewed the new TEKS as well as potential materials for use in health and PE classrooms. A parent preview was held for more than two weeks, and all input was shared with both committees before their final deliberations and votes.
The SHAC focused only on those materials covering the topics of human sexuality and the prevention of child abuse, family violence, dating violence, and sex trafficking, while the adoption committee reviewed all materials for all heath and PE courses. Both groups unanimously recommended the materials to the HPISD Board of Trustees, which approved the materials during its April 19 meeting.
Rather than holding a stand-alone health class in elementary, intermediate, and middle school, in grades K-8, health TEKS are addressed primarily in the PE classroom but may also be covered in science class, advisory, time through the school nurse or counselor, or through outside agencies. Teachers will work this summer to outline a scope and sequence of learning objectives that will serve as the plan for instruction in HPISD classrooms.
Parents will receive notification in advance of those topics that will require their permission for instruction. This information will be included in the student handbook at the beginning of the school year but will also be provided by the teacher at least 14 days prior to the instruction. As per Texas Education Code, parents will be able to purchase a copy of the student materials at student cost based on the district’s contract with the vendor(s). As always, parents who wish to preview any materials will be able to do so on the campus. To provide a high level overview, HPISD has created a chart of K-5, 6-8, and Health I health strands and has noted those that will require parent permission for instruction. Those can be accessed at this link.
With the update of the health TEKS, some strands may sound concerning to parents. It is important to note that the state of Texas has scaffolded these strands into age-appropriate topics. For example, the parent opt-in strand regarding injury and violence prevention and safety--healthy relationships and conflict-resolution skills, begins in kindergarten with students learning about roles and characteristics of trusted adults and learning how to say no in unsafe situations. It eventually scaffolds to fourth grade students being taught how to differentiate between healthy and unhealthy relationships by demonstrating effective strategies to address conflict.
HPISD truly values the relationship between parents and the school and encourages parents to review the newly-adopted TEKS. One of the responsibilities of the SHAC is to review the TEKS and recommend any adjustments to instruction based on community values. The SHAC did not recommend any revisions to the TEKS as written. The latest version of the TEKS are available on the TEA website here. Parents are highly encouraged to contact their child’s teacher if they have questions about any upcoming instruction.
For materials to use in health instruction, teachers in grades K-5 will have access to the newly adopted QuaverEd Health and PE teacher platform. In grades 6-8, teachers and students will have access to the Goodheart-Willcox Texas Health Skills for Middle School which includes a companion text that covers material related to the health strands that are taught to students whose parents elect to opt in for that instruction. Students taking Health I, either during high school or in 8th grade for high school credit, will have access to the Goodheart-Willcox Texas Health Skills for High School which also includes a companion text that covers material related to health strands that are taught to students whose parents elect to opt in for the instruction.
Teachers in grades K-5 will also have access to the QuaverEd Health and PE teacher platform for PE classes. PE classrooms in grades 6-8 will use the PE Guidebook and Activity Cards from Catch. High school PE classrooms will have access to the Goodheart-Willcox Texas Fitness and Wellness Skills.
As teachers work this summer to finalize new curriculum documents and the scope and sequence to outline where TEKS will be covered, they will also review the new materials to determine the best resources to align with their plan for instruction.