2010-11 Health Education Assessment Project (HEAP)

W.Va. State Code §18-2-9b:   The State Board shall prescribe a standardized health education assessment to be administered within health education classes to measure student health knowledge and program effectiveness.

 

In 2002-03, the West Virginia Department of Education’s Office of Healthy Schools first planned and implemented a statewide assessment of health education (Health Education Assessment Project-HEAP).  Since 2006, HEAP has been contracted out to an Internet-based company, but this school year, HEAP is being housed within the West Virginia Education Information System (WVEIS) and managed by the Office of Healthy Schools.

 

Regional School Wellness Specialists continue to conduct HEAP training workshops, send letters, emails and information packets to principals and health teachers of all eligible schools. Instructions on administering HEAP are posted on the Office of Healthy School’s webpage, have been distributed to health teachers by the wellness specialists, and have been emailed on the health education teacher listserv.

 

HEAP is comprised of questions taken from the State Collaborative on Assessment and Student Standards Health Education Assessment Project (SCASS-HEAP).  They were selected based on the extent to which they aligned with the WV K-4 Wellness and 5-12 Health Education Content Standards and Objectives (CSOs).  The assessments for all grade levels were inclusive of questions in the health education content areas of nutrition, physical activity, growth and development, alcohol and other drugs, and tobacco. Grade 6 contained injury prevention questions and Grade 8 and High School assessments contained mental health questions.

 

West Virginia’s 55 counties and 199 schools with 6^th grade, 181 schools with 8^th grade, and 118 high schools were eligible to take the HEAP in 2010-11.  A total of 32,880 students completed HEAP, a slight increase from the 32,770 students who took the assessment the previous year.  Although all eligible schools were expected to administer the HEAP during the 2010-11 school year, 127 out of 199 schools with 6^th grade (64%), 126 out of 181 schools with 8^th grade (70%), and 91 out of 118 high schools (77%) participated.

  

Demographics for 6^th Grade HEAP

6th Grade	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
Number/Percentage of Participating Counties	44/55 (80%)	38/55 (69%)	48/55 (87%)	50/55 (91%)	48/55 (87%) *
Number of Schools Eligible	221	215	200	200	199
Schools/Percentages That Tested	103 (47%)	110 (51%)	116 (58%)	133 (67%)	127 (64%)
Student Enrollments in Selected Grades	21,111 **	20,421 **	20,386 **	20,735 **	20,572 **
Students/Percentage Completing Test	5,151 (24%)	5,475 (27%)	9,022 (44%)	10,802 (52%)	10,211 (50%)
* Counties with not schools participating (Calhoun, Clay, Gilmer, Lewis, Monroe, Ritchie, Upshur)
** Taken from 2nd Month Enrollment

 

Percentages of Correct Responses for 6^th Grade HEAP

6th Grade	2002-03	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	Average
Alcohol/Other Drugs	76	79	78	76	77	77	77
Growth & Development	65	81	74	73	73	74	73
Injury Prevention	90	93	92	91	92	93	92
Nutrition	72	62	65	65	64	66	66
Physical Activity	76	79	77	76	76	77	77
Tobacco	74	69	69	68	68	69	70
Total HEAP %	77	77	76	75	75	76	76

 

State HEAP Results for 6^th Grade

 

Demographics for 8^th Grade HEAP

8th Grade	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
Number/Percentage of Participating Counties	41/55 (75%)	46/55 (84%)	48/55 (87%)	50/55 (91%)	51/55 (93%) *
Number of Schools Eligible	184	168	182	182	181
Schools/Percentages That Tested	83 (45%)	93 (55%)	119 (65%)	131 (72%)	126 (70%)
Student Enrollments in Selected Grades	21,469 **	21,440 **	21,197 **	20,423 **	20,389 **
Students/Percentage Completing Test	4,481 (21%)	6,138 (29%)	9,177 (43%)	10,582 (52%)	10,577 (52%)
* Counties with no schools  participating (Calhoun, Clay, Lewis, Ritchie)
** Taken from 2nd Month Enrollment

 

 

State HEAP Results for 8^th Grade

8th Grade	2002-03	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	Average
Alcohol/Other Drugs	57	79	78	61	62	63	67
Growth & Development	70	81	74	75	76	76	75
Mental Health	65	93	92	72	73	74	78
Nutrition	60	62	65	63	63	63	63
Physical Activity	76	79	77	77	78	77	77
Tobacco	65	69	69	65	66	67	67
Total HEAP %	66	77	76	69	70	70	72

 

 

Percentages of Correct Responses for 8^th Grade HEAP

Demographics for High School HEAP

High School	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
Number/Percentage of Participating Counties	40/55 (73%)	51/55 (93%)	48/55 (87%)	49/55 (89%)	51/55 (93%) *
Number of Schools Eligible	125	123	121	120	118
Schools/Percentages That Tested	69 (55%)	88 (72%)	98 (81%)	89 (74%)	91 ((77%)
Student Enrollments in Selected Grades	24,163 **	23,000 **	23,508 **	21,719 **	22,579  **
Students/Percentage Completing Test	6,876 (28%)	10,775 (47%)	12,064 (51%)	11,386 (52%)	12,092 (54%)
* Counties with no schools participating (Calhoun, Hampshire, Monroe, Morgan)
** Taken from 9th Grade 2nd Month Enrollment

 

State HEAP Results for High School

High School	2002-03	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	Average
Alcohol/Other Drugs	67	73	62	67	69	69	68
Growth & Development	70	79	77	67	75	75	74
Mental Health	49	76	74	66	66	66	66
Nutrition	72	74	61	67	72	72	70
Physical Activity	67	69	71	71	64	65	68
Tobacco	64	73	66	67	66	66	67
Total HEAP %	65	74	69	66	69	69	69

 

Percentages of Correct Responses for High School HEAP

Demographics for Totals of 2006, 07, 08, 09. 10 HEAP

6th, 8th and High School	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
Number/Percentage of Participating Counties	42 (76%)	45 (83%)	48(87%)	50 (91%)	54 (99%)
Number of Schools Eligible to Test	333*	328*	309*	312*	300*
Student Enrollments in Selected Grades	66,743*	65,616*	65,091*	64,709*	63,540*
Students/Percentage Completing Test	16,508 (25%)	22,388 (34%)	30,263 (46%)	32,770 (51%)	32,880 (52%)

*Taken from 2^nd Month Enrollment

 

Content Area	2002-03	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	Average
Alcohol/Other Drugs	67	72	70	68	69	70	69
Growth & Development	68	77	76	73	75	75	74
Injury Prevention	90	93	92	91	92	92	92
Nutrition	68	67	66	66	66	67	67
Physical Activity	73	75	73	71	73	73	73
Tobacco	68	71	67	65	67	67	68
Mental Health	57	75	71	68	70	70	69

State HEAP Results for Combined Grades

 

 

Conclusion:

County superintendents, county instructional leaders, county testing coordinators, county School Wellness Council chairs and school principals will receive a report with county, school and state scores.   Results will also be posted on the Office of Healthy School’s website. http://wvde.state.wv.us/healthyschools/HEAP.htm   

 

Information from this report should be used for the continuous improvement of health education programs and related professional development.  County school systems are encouraged to review the HEAP data for their county schools and determine needs related to improving participation as well as performance.  Counties may employ a variety of strategies to improve in both of these areas including but not limited to:  professional development for health teachers covering technology, test data analysis, curriculum mapping and instructional strategies; support from technology integration specialists to improve skills for on-line test administration; and support from county testing coordinator to assure compliance with HEAP requirements. 

 

The WVDE Office of Healthy Schools and Regional Education School Wellness Specialists are available to assist county school systems with the following:

• training for HEAP administration
• analysis of trend HEAP data
• utilization of HEAP data to plan targeted professional development for health educators
• coordination of health education professional development

Note:  Selected response items used in the HEAP are just one tool used to measure student progress.  In order to determine student mastery of the Health Education Content Standards and Objectives, multiple forms of assessments should be used.   Therefore, the WVDE Office of Healthy Schools will continue to design professional development offerings using HEAP data and provide teachers with a variety of instructional strategies that include performance assessment materials that can be used in their classrooms.