Minnesota Administrative Rules

8710.4500 TEACHERS OF HEALTH.

Subpart 1.

Scope of practice.

A teacher of health is authorized to provide to students in grades 5 through 12 instruction that is designed to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to practice healthy behaviors.

Subp. 2.

Licensure requirements.

A candidate for licensure to teach health to students in grades 5 through 12 shall:

A.

hold a baccalaureate degree from a college or university that is regionally accredited by the association for the accreditation of colleges and secondary schools;

B.

demonstrate the standards for effective practice for licensing of beginning teachers in part 8710.2000; and

C.

show verification of completing a Board of Teaching preparation program approved under part 8700.7600 leading to the licensure of teachers of health in subpart 3.

Subp. 3.

Subject matter standard.

A candidate for licensure as a teacher of health must complete a preparation program under subpart 2, item C, that must include the candidate's demonstration of the knowledge and skills in items A to I.

A.

A teacher of health understands behaviors and factors that:

(1)

prevent or reduce the risk of accidents, sudden illness, and violent injuries;

(2)

prevent or reduce the risk of tobacco use or alcohol and other drug abuse;

(3)

prevent or reduce the risk of HIV infection and AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, and unintentional pregnancy; and

(4)

contribute to sufficient physical activity and promote health-enhancing dietary practices.

B.

A teacher of health understands concepts related to health promotion and disease prevention including:

(1)

the need for and role of a philosophy of health, health education, and health promotion;

(2)

primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention;

(3)

components of comprehensive school health programs and interrelationships among components;

(4)

behaviors that foster and those that hinder well-being; and

(5)

physical, social, emotional, and intellectual factors that influence health.

C.

A teacher of health understands how to access valid health information and health-promoting products and services including:

(1)

selecting and evaluating the validity of sources of health education information;

(2)

identifying and accessing appropriate and cost-effective school and community health services;

(3)

identifying and evaluating appropriate lifestyle assessments and health-risk appraisals;

(4)

using or developing appropriate data gathering instruments to include national, state, or district level morbidity, mortality, behavioral risk, and needs assessment data; and

(5)

articulating research and public policy regarding health issues.

D.

A teacher of health understands health-enhancing behaviors that reduce health risks including:

(1)

the short-term and long-term consequences of positive and negative health choices;

(2)

the relationship between and among the major health determinants of genetics, environments, health care, and personal behavior;

(3)

the importance of individual responsibility for health; and

(4)

strategies to reduce and prevent stress-related health problems.

E.

A teacher of health understands the effects of advertising, media, technology, and social norms on health behaviors.

F.

A teacher of health understands how to use interpersonal communication skills to enhance health including:

(1)

models and strategies for teaching communication skills for expressing needs, wants, and feelings; communicating, care, consideration, and respect of self and others; conflict resolution; and refusal skills; and

(2)

strategies for facilitating dialogue related to controversial health issues.

G.

A teacher of health understands how to use goal-setting and decision-making skills to enhance health including:

(1)

age appropriate decision-making and goal-setting models;

(2)

applying decision-making and goal-setting processes to personal health choices;

(3)

the components of and processes for the development and implementation of personal health plans; and

(4)

predicting the immediate and long-range impact of health decisions on the individual, family, and the community.

H.

A teacher of health demonstrates an understanding of the teaching of health that integrates understanding of health with the understanding of pedagogy, students, learning, classroom management, and professional development. The teacher of health to preadolescent and adolescent students must:

(1)

understand and apply educational principles relevant to the physical, social, emotional, moral, and cognitive development of preadolescents and adolescents;

(2)

understand and apply the research base for and the best practices of middle and high school education;

(3)

develop curriculum goals and purposes based on the central concepts of health and know how to apply instructional strategies and materials for achieving student understanding of this discipline;

(4)

understand the role and alignment of district, school, and department mission and goals in program planning;

(5)

understand the need for and how to connect students' schooling experiences with everyday life, the workplace, and further educational opportunities;

(6)

know how to involve representatives of business, industry, and community organizations as active partners in creating educational opportunities;

(7)

understand the role and purpose of cocurricular and extracurricular activities in the teaching and learning process; and

(8)

apply the standards of effective practice in teaching students through a variety of early and ongoing clinical experiences with middle level and high school students within a range of educational programming models.

I.

A teacher of health must understand the content and methods for teaching reading including:

(1)

knowledge of reading processes and instruction including:

(a)

the relationships between and among print processing abilities and digital content, motivation, background, and discourse knowledge, cognitive abilities, and reader's interest and how those relationships impact comprehension; and

(b)

the complexities involved in the development of academic language and the impact of that development in school success; and

(2)

the ability to use a wide range of instructional practices, approaches, methods, and curriculum materials to support reading instruction including:

(a)

selection and implementation of a wide variety of before, during, and after reading strategies that develop reading and metacognitive abilities;

(b)

the ability to develop and implement effective vocabulary strategies that help students understand words including domain-specific content words;

(c)

the ability to develop critical literacy skills by encouraging students to question texts and analyze texts from multiple viewpoints or perspectives; and

(d)

the ability to identify instructional practices, approaches, and methods and match materials, both print and digital, to the cognitive levels of all readers, guided by an evidence-based rationale, which support the developmental, cultural, and linguistic differences of readers.

Subp. 4.

Continuing license.

A continuing license shall be issued and renewed according to the rules of the Board of Teaching governing continuing licensure.

Subp. 5.

[Repealed, L 2015 c 21 art 1 s 110]

Statutory Authority:

MS s 122A.09; 122A.18

History:

23 SR 1928; 34 SR 595; L 2015 c 21 art 1 s 110

Published Electronically:

August 4, 2015