Teachers' Use of Health Curricula: Implementation of Growing Healthy, Project SMART, and the Teenage Health Teaching Modules

Abstract:
This study assessed the impact of factors associated with classroom implementation of health curricula. School representatives selected and implemented one of three tobacco prevention curricula (Project SMART, Growing Healthy, or the Teenage Health Teaching Modules) in either 6th or 7th grade. Prior to implementation, experimental teachers and administrators received extensive curriculum training. Implementation data were collected through teacher-completed checksheets and classroom observations for two time periods: initial implementation and maintained implementation. While training was associated significantly with whether teachers implemented a curriculum, other factors were also important. Variables outside of teachers' direct control, such as supportive administrators, context in which health instruction is taught (i.e., science or physical education), and turbulence (such as the shift from a junior high to a middle school structure), affected the quantity and quality of curricular implementation.

Author(s): SMITH, Dennis W.; McCORMICK, Laura K.; STECKLER, Allan B.; and McLEROY, Kenneth R.

Publication: Journal of School Health, Vol. 63, No. 8, pp. 349-354


Date Published: 10/1/1993

Pages: 6

Comments:
First author may be contacted at the Dept. of Health and Human Performance, 123 Melcher Gymnasium, The University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204.

Location Code: 8178