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Health Education Assessment Project (HEAP)

Beginning with the 2006-2007 school year, the WVDE Office of Healthy Schools, Division of Student Support Services, developed and implemented the first online statewide Health Education Assessment Project (HEAP) as required by House Bill 2816. Assistance for this project was provided by the WVDE Office of Technology in making the assessment available online from December 2006 through May 2007 for all 6th and 8th grade students and high school health education students.

In 2007-2008, The SmartTrack™ was awarded the contract to provide the online assessments to West Virginia public schools. HEAP assessment categories and items were adopted from the State Collaborative on Assessment and State Standards (SCASS) Health Education Assessment Project (HEAP) which began in 1993. The adopted categories and items aligned to the West Virginia K-12 Health Education Content Standards and Objectives (CSOs).

The pilot year for the HEAP assessment in West Virginia was 2003. The operational assessment included questions on health education topics such as nutrition, physical activity, growth and development, and the informed use of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. The topic of mental health for 6th grade students and mental health replaced injury prevention for 8th grade and high school students. All West Virginia schools with 6th, 8th, and/or high school students are expected to administer HEAP. The following chart indicates the number of students at each grade level completing HEAP during the 2007-2008 school year.

GRADE LEVEL	NUMBER OF WV COUNTIES PARTICIPATING IN HEAP TESTING	NUMBER OF STUDENTS TESTED
6	50	5,442
8	47	6,112
High School	50	10,712

Overall, 22,266 students participated in the HEAP assessment in 2007-2008. This was an increase of 5,758 students from the previous year.

An examination of HEAP test items (2007-2008) across all content areas and grade levels indicates that the following topic areas had proficiency scores above 90 percent:

HEAP Topic Areas with Proficiency Scores Above 90 Percent
Recognition of food groups	Effects of physical activities on body systems
Bicycle safety	Proper storage of medications
First aid and safety	Dating relationships and safety
Safe methods of weight loss	Long-term effects of tobacco use

The following HEAP test topic areas had proficiency scores below 70 percent:

HEAP Topic Areas with Proficiency Scores Below 70 Percent
Interpreting and understanding food labels	Identifying types of nutrients found in foods	Understanding the benefits of nutrients found in foods
Identifying accurate sources of health information	Understanding components of exercise and linking those to individual fitness plans	Recognizing the effects of stress on health
Refusal skills	Identifying and understanding the stages of human development	Identifying risks associated with sexual activity
Short– and long-term effects of alcohol and drugs	Short-term effects of tobacco use	Identifying and analyzing advertising techniques

It should be noted that HEAP selected-response test items should be only one tool used to measure student progress in 21st century health literacy. The WVDE Office of Healthy Schools will continue to design and offer teacher professional development training sessions that not only make use of HEAP data, but also include a variety of additional assessment materials/tools that teachers can use at the classroom level.

Additional information on this program can be found in the Closing the Achievement Gap Initiatives in West Virginia section starting on page 183.

FITNESSGRAM

In October 2005, the West Virginia Board of Education (WVBE) revised Policy 2520.6, 21st Century Physical Education 5-12 Content Standards and Objectives (CSOs) to require annual administration of the FITNESSGRAM in grades four through eight and high school physical education courses beginning with the 2006-2007 school year. In preparation for this testing, the WVDE Office of Healthy Schools provided professional development training in the administration of the FITNESSGRAM to over 900 physical education teachers in all 55 counties through Regional Education Service Agencies (RESAs) and/or county-provided staff development offerings.

The following chart outlines participation in the FITNESSGRAM assessment:

FITNESSGRAM Participation
2006-2007	762 schools	55 counties
2007-2008	604 schools	57 school districts

This assessment measures three components of health-related physical fitness that have been identified as being important to overall health and function: (1) aerobic capacity; (2) body composition; and (3) muscular strength, endurance and flexibility. For each test category, teachers report the number of students tested and the number of students who performed within the Healthy Fitness Zone as defined by the FITNESSGRAM assessment. The 2007-2008 results indicate that a majority of West Virginia students performed within the Healthy Fitness Zone; however, the results also suggest that there were some areas that might require additional attention from individual students.

Additional information on this program can be found in the Closing the Achievement Gap Initiatives in West Virginia section starting on page 183.

Table 37: West Virginia Fitness Gram Results
Year	% Healthy Zone for Strength	% Healthy Zone for Aerobic Capacity	% Healthy Zone for Flexibility	% Healthy Zone for Trunk Lift	% Healthy Zone for Curl-up	% Healthy Zone for Body Composition
2005-06	69	65	81	86	82	68
2006-07*	--	--	--	--	--	--
2007-08	69	67	81	87	83	67

*Data not available

Table 38: West Virginia HEAP Results (Proficiency set at 80% right response)
Year	% Right Response for Nutrition	% Right Response for Physical Activity	% Right Response for Injury Prevention	% Right Response for Growth and Development	% Right Response for Tobacco	% Right Response for Alcohol & Drugs	% Right Response for Mental Health
2003*	68	73	90	68	68	67	57
2007	67**	75	93	77	71	72	75
2008	66	73	92	76	67	70	71

*2003 was the pilot year.
** the percentage reported for Nutrition in the 2008 edition of the CAG Report was found to be in error and was corrected within this 2009 update. These scores were provided by the WVDE Office of Healthy Schools.

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