The Pittsburgh Public Schools Health and Physical Education Department is designed to create an equitable, accessible and high-quality standard-based educational experience for all students. The department and courses are designed to ensure and promote our students understand, identify, and participate in lifelong health and physical activity throughout their lifespan. The department understands the importance of ensuring all of our students comprehend the benefits, rationale, skills, and implementation of lifelong physical activity and fitness, character education, personal and community health, and provide opportunities to learn the skills necessary to apply each to their daily life. Furthermore, health and physical education intgrates character, social, and emotional skills to aide in the development of the whole child.

Mission

The mission of the Health and Physical Education (HPE) Department is to offer an equitable, high-quality standards-based curriculum that provides the whole-child a variety of opportunities to be active and the development of understanding and importance of both how and why should apply these practices in order to live an healthy lifestyle that ensures the mind and body can function at it maximum potential. The HPE Department aims to ensure our students have a full foundation of both knowledge and application in the many aspects of physical fitness and activity, as well as personal and community health to warrants lifelong practices.

Health and Wellness Education  

The District understands the importance of health and wellness for all ages and individuals. 

The District supports a planned, sequential, kindergarten through 12th grade health education curriculum involving skill-based and hands-on learning opportunities that addresses the physical, emotional, mental, behavioral, and social dimensions of health. Health education curriculum promotes lifelong health habits as part of a whole school, child and community experience. Additionally, the Early Childhood Programming provides introductory concepts of physical, mental, social and emotional health and wellness. 

The curriculum focuses on health literacy to enhance each student’s independent thinking skills and decision-making and is empowered to enhance personal responsibility.

Health education shall be taught by state-certified health education teachers. Health education instruction will be provided: a. For all students in grades K-8; and b. In grades 9-12 to enable students to meet and exceed the health education graduation requirement.

Goals for the District’s health education program are to be developmentally appropriate and include culturally-responsive practices. This programming is designed to promote student overall health and wellness and shall be developed in accordance with Board policy. Such goals shall include, but not be limited to, physical health, including nutrition and physical activity, mental health, including self-awareness, self-management, and responsible decision making techniques and social emotional wellbeing, to include social awareness and relationship skills.

The District’s health education program must be implemented in ways that recognize and value culturally, ethnically, and racially diverse backgrounds.