Maryland’s Comprehensive Health Education Framework

THE HEALTH EDUCATION FRAMEWORK:

• Provides guidance to support LEAs as they make decisions about what curricula and instructional materials to use to ensure health education is taught in a medically accurate, scientific, research-based, best-in-class way;

• Is based on topics required by legislation, the equity education regulation, and the health education regulation adopted by the Maryland State Board of Education on October 22, 2019;
  

• Is aligned to the 2nd edition of the National Health Education Standards;

• Was guided by data about Maryland’s youth through Maryland's Youth Risk Behavior Survey, School Health Profiles Survey, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Health Education Curriculum Analysis Tool;
  

• Was developed by the Maryland State Department of Education in collaboration with the Maryland Department of Health and a broad cross-section of stakeholders (race, gender, geographic location, and experiences), including LEA health education coordinators, teachers, students, and national subject matter experts;

• Was revised in June 2021 to align the high school topics and indicators with the newly adopted health education graduation requirement;
  

• MSDE will update the health education framework in the manner and time the State Superintendent determines is necessary; and
  

• Is not curricula or instructional material – the sexual health and gender identity and expression terms used in the document are not used in classrooms unless they are deemed age-appropriate by a joint committee of educators and representatives of the community.
  

TOPICS REQUIRED BY LEGISLATION INCLUDE:

Contact:

Jason Semanoff
Director of Comprehensive Health and Physical Education
Office: (410) 767-0327
jason.semanoff@maryland.gov

Suzannah Ward
Coordinator of Comprehensive Health Education
Office: (410) 767-0527
suzannah.ward@maryland.gov