2.5 Continuing Education and Professional Development as a Health Educator
Key Takeaways
The Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES) and Master Certified Health Education Specialist (MCHES) credentials are awarded by the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing (NCHEC) and require continuing education contact hours for renewal.
Health education practice is organized around the Areas of Responsibility for Health Education Specialists, defined by the periodic Health Education Specialist Practice Analysis (HESPA), which is also the blueprint for the CHES examination.
State teaching licenses renew on a cycle that requires documented professional development hours or credits; the specific requirement varies by state, so candidates should verify their own state's rule rather than assume a national standard.
Effective professional development is sustained, collaborative, content-specific, and embedded in practice -- professional learning communities and coaching outperform one-time workshops.
SHAPE America and state AHPERD affiliates provide conventions, peer-reviewed journals, position statements, and advocacy networks that constitute the primary discipline-specific professional development infrastructure.
Why the Exam Tests Professional Growth
Health content changes. Guidance on nutrition, nicotine products, mental health, and communicable disease has all shifted materially within a single career span, and a teacher who stops learning begins teaching superseded science. The blueprint therefore treats continuing education as a professional obligation rather than an optional extra.
Credentials in Health Education
CHES and MCHES
The National Commission for Health Education Credentialing (NCHEC) administers two credentials:
| Credential | Who it is for | Basic route |
|---|---|---|
| CHES (Certified Health Education Specialist) | Entry-level and practicing health education specialists | Bachelor's degree or higher with qualifying health education coursework, then pass the CHES exam |
| MCHES (Master Certified Health Education Specialist) | Advanced practitioners | Master's degree or higher plus documented advanced-level experience, then pass the MCHES exam |
Both require continuing education contact hours (CECH) across a multi-year renewal cycle to maintain the credential. The point for the 5857 candidate is not to memorize the hour count -- it varies and can change -- but to know that the credential is renewable, is issued by NCHEC, and is distinct from a state teaching license.
Areas of Responsibility
NCHEC's Health Education Specialist Practice Analysis (HESPA) periodically re-derives the Areas of Responsibility that define the profession and serve as the CHES exam blueprint. Across editions, the responsibilities consistently cover:
- Assessment of needs, resources, and capacity
- Planning health education and promotion
- Implementation of programs
- Evaluation and research
- Advocacy
- Communication
- Leadership and management
- Ethics and professionalism
The HESPA is a practice analysis -- it derives the credential's content from what practitioners actually do, the same logic ETS uses to build the 5857 blueprint from SHAPE America teaching standards.
Teaching License Renewal
A CHES credential does not license a person to teach. Public school health and physical education teachers hold a state teaching license or certificate, typically renewed on a three- to five-year cycle requiring documented professional development. Common renewal currencies include clock hours, continuing education units (CEUs), graduate credit, and district-approved professional learning.
Requirements vary substantially by state, and several states require specific content -- suicide prevention, mandated-reporter refresher training, or cultural competence -- as a renewal condition. Verify the requirement with your own state education agency; assuming a national standard is a documented way to let a license lapse. Many states also offer advanced certification pathways and recognize National Board Certification in Physical Education or Health Education, which involves portfolio submission and assessment and carries salary or licensure benefits in many districts.
What Makes Professional Development Effective
The research consensus, which the exam reflects, distinguishes effective from ineffective professional learning:
| Effective | Ineffective |
|---|---|
| Sustained over time with follow-up | One-shot workshop with no follow-up |
| Content-specific to what the teacher teaches | Generic pedagogy detached from subject matter |
| Collaborative -- job-embedded, with colleagues | Isolated individual attendance |
| Active -- modeling, practice, feedback | Passive listening to a presenter |
| Coherent with school goals and standards | Disconnected from the improvement plan |
| Data-informed -- driven by identified student need | Selected by convenience or interest alone |
Structures that deliver these features
- Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) -- recurring collaborative teams examining student work and results against shared goals
- Instructional coaching -- cycles of observation, modeling, practice, and feedback
- Lesson study -- collaborative planning, observation, and revision of a single lesson
- Action research -- a teacher poses a question about their own practice, collects classroom data, and adjusts
- Peer observation with a defined focus and non-evaluative protocol
Professional Organizations and Publications
| Organization | Contribution |
|---|---|
| SHAPE America | National Health Education Standards and National Physical Education Standards; national convention; position statements; Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance; Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport; American Journal of Health Education |
| State AHPERD affiliates | State conventions, workshops, advocacy on state mandates and instructional minutes |
| SOPHE (Society for Public Health Education) | Health Education & Behavior; Health Promotion Practice; public health education advocacy |
| American School Health Association | Journal of School Health; coordinated school health focus |
| NCHEC | CHES/MCHES credentialing and the Areas of Responsibility |
| CDC Healthy Schools | HECAT, WSCC framework, professional development modules |
Membership matters for a practical reason the exam can test: peer-reviewed journals published by these bodies are the mechanism by which a practicing teacher stays current with the evidence, which loops directly back to the blueprint's requirement that teachers use valid and reliable sources.
Building a Professional Growth Plan
A defensible plan is not a list of conferences. It works backward from evidence:
- Identify need from data -- student assessment results, needs-assessment findings, observation feedback, a content area you know is weak.
- Write a measurable goal tied to student outcomes, not attendance.
- Select learning activities that are sustained, collaborative, and content-specific.
- Apply and collect evidence in your own classroom.
- Reflect and revise, then set the next goal.
This is the same reflective cycle applied to the teacher rather than the student, which is why the blueprint pairs reflective teaching with professional development.
Common Praxis Traps
- Trap 1: Equating CHES with a teaching license. They are separate credentials from separate bodies.
- Trap 2: Assuming a uniform national renewal requirement. Renewal rules are set by each state.
- Trap 3: Counting one-time workshop attendance as effective PD. Sustained, collaborative, content-specific learning is the standard.
- Trap 4: Selecting PD by personal interest alone. Effective plans start from student data.
- Trap 5: Confusing NCHEC with SHAPE America. NCHEC credentials individuals; SHAPE America sets teaching standards and publishes the discipline's journals.
Which organization awards the Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES) credential and defines the Areas of Responsibility for health education specialists?
The National Commission for Health Education Credentialing (NCHEC)
SHAPE America (Society of Health and Physical Educators)
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
The state department of education in the practitioner's state
A district offers its health teachers two options: a single three-hour workshop on a new nutrition curriculum, or a year-long professional learning community that meets monthly to examine student work, plan lessons together, and observe one another teach. Which is more consistent with research on effective professional development, and why?
The workshop, because it delivers consistent content to all teachers efficiently
The professional learning community, because it is sustained, collaborative, content-specific, and embedded in practice
The workshop, because it minimizes time away from instruction
Both are equally effective as long as the content is accurate
A health teacher holds a current CHES credential and wants to know how many professional development hours are required to renew the state teaching license. Where should the teacher look?
The NCHEC continuing education requirements, since CHES renewal governs licensure
SHAPE America's national standards documents
The teacher's own state education agency, because license renewal requirements are set by each state
The CDC's Healthy Schools professional development guidance
A health educator wants to begin a professional growth plan. Which starting point best reflects professional practice?
Enrolling in graduate coursework that satisfies the maximum number of renewal credits
Choosing conference sessions that match the educator's strongest content interests
Selecting the professional development offering with the most available seats
Identifying a need from student assessment results and needs-assessment data, then writing a measurable goal tied to student outcomes
Sections you finish are checked off in the contents.