A cooperative project to evaluate health education at the elementary level.

ABSTRACT This study determined the effects of health instruction upon the Objective Reference Test (ORT) scores of students in grades one through five of the Troy School District in Troy, Michigan. In September 1971, all elementary teachers in Michigan were instructed to begin teaching substance use and abuse. An Elementary Health Committee was established to design a curriculum guide for health education incorporating most of the Minimal Performance Objectives (MPO) prepared by the Michigan Department of Education. Upon completion of the guide, the Committee needed to prepare teachers to implement the curriculum. A graduate level course (HED 5231) was, therefore, designed and presented to the teachers. The Troy School District was chosen to be a field testing site for the Michigan Department of Education. Elementary students of teachers who had enrolled in HED 5231 became the experimental group. The control group was made up of classes at the same grade and in the same elementary school as the experimental group, but whose t.achers had not enrolled in HED 5231. The experimental group received instruction in the MPOs and were then given assessment tests. The same assessment tests, without instruction, were given to the control group. The study showed that health instruction generally improved ORT scores, that differences on the ORT occurred at grade levels and in content areas, and that a graduate level curriculum in health education was valuable to elementary teachers. (RC)