---
title: What standards is the HealthSmart curriculum aligned to?
description: HealthSmart meets several national initiatives in the field of health education, including NHES, HECAT and characteristics of effective health education curricula.
---

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# What standards is the HealthSmart curriculum aligned to?

## HealthSmart meets several national initiatives in the field of health education, including NHES, HECAT and characteristics of effective health education curricula.

All lessons in the K–12 curriculum are aligned with the [**National Health Education Standards**](https://www.etr.org/healthsmart/standards/national-health-education-standards/) (NHES), and great emphasis is placed on students having opportunities to become proficient in and master the concepts and skills outlined in the NHES at each grade level. The specific NHES performance indicators met within each lesson are clearly identified in the lesson overviews.

The **[CDC’s Health Education Curriculum Analysis Tool (HECAT)](https://www.etr.org/healthsmart/standards/hecat/)**, which identifies the healthy behavior outcomes considered to be the most important behaviors to promote in a K–12 health education curriculum, and the corresponding knowledge and skill expectations that must be met at various grade levels in order to achieve these outcomes, played a primary role in the development of the most recent editions of the program. Key concepts and skills required by the HECAT were a driving force in the development of the lesson objectives and assessments in all grade levels and content areas.

In addition, *HealthSmart* was developed to meet the **[15 Characteristics of Effective Health Education Curricula](https://www.etr.org/healthsmart/standards/characteristics-of-effective-curricula/)** as identified by the CDC Division of Adolescent and School Health.

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