Health Education Graduate Certificate Program

Department of Health Professions, Physical Education, Recreation and Leisure Studies

College of Education and Human Services

Health Education Graduate Certificate Program

1. Program Objectives

The program’s main objective is to serve previously certified teachers who are currently teaching health education in a classroom situation and want to continue their education. The courses have been chosen to provide pedagogical and content-based knowledge and skills grounded in the New Jersey Core Curriculum Standards in Comprehensive Health. Standards 2.1 through 2.4 focus directly on health education as follows:

2.1 All students will learn health promotion and disease prevention concepts and health-enhancing behaviors.

2.2 All students will learn health-enhancing personal, inter-personal, and life skills.

2.3 All students will learn the physical, mental, emotional and social effects of the use and abuse of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs.

2.4 All students will learn the biological, social, cultural, and psychological aspects of human sexuality and family life.

The strategic goals for the Department of Health Professions, Physical Education, Recreation, and Leisure Studies list “Revise teacher preparation coursework to be in line with the NJ Core Curriculum Standards,” “Package workshops, conferences, and credits to address the 100-hour requirement for professional development in health and physical education,” and “Provide workshops and staff training programs for professionals in the field.” The development and goals of this program are consistent with these strategic goals.

The operational goals for the college include “the provision of professional development for teachers and others in the region.” The proposed program is also consistent with this goal. In addition, the program shares its focus with that consistent of MSU’s teacher education program goals. “The MSU teacher education program has at its core the agenda for education in a democracy, as set forth by the seminal work of John Goodlad and the Institute for Educational Inquiry. Montclair State University is committed to “the simultaneous renewal of colleges of education and the schools” (Report of the Inclusion Task Force, 1998, p.2). This certificate program provides renewal at the level of the College of Education by responding to the needs of certified teachers as well as at the level of the schools by increasing the skills of teachers already in the classroom.

3. Academic Program

The academic program will consist of a twelve-credit sequence of existing health education graduate courses. The program can be completed in one year (two semesters) and will serve post-baccalaureate students. Students will receive credit for these courses, and the program will be offered in the context of the existing courses in the health education MA program. It will be campus-based and largely synchronous.

The course requirements are listed below:

a) Choose one of the following:

HLTH 520 Foundations and Methods of Health Education (3 cr.)

HLTH 526 Curriculum Development in Health Education (3 cr.)

b) Choose three of the following:

HLTH 560 Human Diseases (3 cr.) (NJ Core Curriculum Standard 2.1)

HLTH 540 Selected Topics in Mental Health (3 cr.) (NJ Core Curriculum Standard

2.2)

HLTH 511 Biomedical Psychosocial Perspectives on Drugs (3 cr.) (NJ Core

Curriculum Standard 2.3)

HLTH 575 The Teaching of Human Sexuality (3 cr.) (NJ Core Curriculum

Standard 2.4)

HLTH 530 Health Issues Seminar (3 cr.)

4. Admission Criteria:

To be admitted to the Health Education Certification Program the applicant must possess; (A) A baccalaureate degree from an accredited institution of higher education with a minimum cumulative grade point average of 2.5 on a 4-point scale or equivalent on a 5-point scale; and (B) a teaching certificate.

5. Eligibility for Receiving the Certificate:

To be eligible for receiving the Health Education Certificate the student must complete the program requirements as specified in section G as stated in the Graduate Handbook, and earn a minimum grade point average of 2.5.

6. Transfer of Courses to the MA Program in Health Education:

Students who successfully complete the requirements of the certificate program with a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or better, and receive the Health Education Certificate, will be eligible for admission to the Health Education Master’s Program without the requirement of taking the Graduate Record Exam (GRE).