Curriculum Support - Comprehensive Health and Physical Education

This page contains supports designed to assist in the development of standards based curriculum resources for comprehensive health and physical education. Supportive resources are separated in three section:

• Colorado Sample Curriculum Project  [Watch closely for ongoing updates.]
• Evidence-Based Curriculum Design Tools
• Curriculum Design Tools available on our Standards Implementation Toolkit

Colorado's District Sample Curriculum Project:

This fall, over 500 Colorado educators, representing 61 school districts, participated in curriculum design workshops that resulted in the creation of 670 curriculum samples based on the Colorado Academic Standards (CAS). Utilizing a Colorado-designed and refined template, the samples provide organizing structures for addressing the grade-level expectations (GLEs), evidence outcomes (EOs) and 21st Century Skills that build students' mastery of the standards at each grade level. As voluntary resources for districts, the samples:

• Represent the translation of the CAS into unit overviews for all (10) content areas, grades k-12
• Illuminate possibilities for sequencing grade-level and content-specific standards across courses/years
• Offer one possible foundation for exploring standards-based unit and lesson-plan development

The samples, the blank template upon which they are based, and a template with definitions can currently be accessed on this website.

Evidence-Based Curriculum Design Tools

Characteristics of an Effective Health Education Curriculum
See the 14 essential characteristics of today’s effective, state-of-the-art health education curricula, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Health Education Curriculum Analysis Tool (HECAT)
Physical Education Curriculum Analysis Tool (PECAT)
Use these tools from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to analyze your health and physical education curricula. Results can help districts and schools select or develop effective health and physical education curricula, and improve teaching strategies.

Key strategies for improving the quality of physical education
Read this short brief about two key strategies to increase students’ time in moderate to vigorous physical activity during physical education classes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Curriculum Design Tools:

• Vertical Progressions 
• Concept Connections (Kindergarten - 5th Grade)

• Discipline Concept Maps

  • Individually separated by grade and content

  • Grouped by grade level with all content areas

  • Grouped by content area with all grade levels

For website assistance in Comprehensive Health and Physical Education, please contact Phyllis Reed.