Local schools and school district personnel use a variety of factors to choose health education curricula. At the core of the decision should be the needs of the students and the community and the actual quality of the curricula.

The CDC has defined comprehensive school health education (CSHE) as including the following key elements:

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CSHE is a documented, planned, and sequential program of health instruction for K-12 students.

• A CSHE program should include a written curriculum or series of curricula that fit together to form a coordinated, sequential course of study from preschool through high school.

CSHE addresses a range of health problems and issues at developmentally appropriate ages.

• Individual curricula that address specific health issues can be incorporated into CSHE provided that they are coordinated with the overall program and that students receive education related to several important health issues throughout the course of their education.

CSHE suggests skill development - not just concepts or fact-for avoiding the behaviors that are the leading causes of morbidity and mortality among youth and adults including

• Tobacco use
• Dietary patterns that contribute to disease
• Physical inactivity
• Sexual behaviors that result in HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) infection, other sexually transmitted diseases, and unintended pregnancy
• Alcohol and other drug use.
• Behaviors that result in unintentional and intentional injuries

CSHE is provided for a prescribed amount of time at each grade level.

• Schools need to treat health education as an academic subject.
• Health education deserves a formal place in the curriculum if the school is to produce healthy citizens.

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The CSHE program is overseen by a professional trained in health education.

• Management and coordination of the health education program is provided by a professionally trained health educator.
• Without the involvement of experts in the curriculum and content area, teachers may not implement the curriculum to its maximum effect.

CSHE instruction is provided by teachers trained in the subject.

• The key to effective health education instruction lies in the teacher who provides it.
• Unfortunately, many teachers responsible for teaching health classes have either limited or no pre-service training at all in health education or in the methods for teaching the social skills students need to engage in health-enhancing behaviors.
• A separate certification for health education instruction is available in some states.

CSHE involves parents, health care professionals, and other concerned community members.

• Parents and community members are key to helping a school determine the needs of its students for health education.
• Messages provided in the classroom need reinforcement in the school, the home, the physician's office, and in other community settings.
  
• Parents and community members have an important role in the evaluating and revising the health education curriculum.
  

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