Yes, the CDC recognizes that school curricula are typically selected at the local level and must meet local school and community needs. It also recognizes that curricula must conform to state or school district curriculum requirements. You can add, delete, or revise items in the HECAT to meet local needs and curriculum requirements. However, you should note that revisions that significantly change the content of the HECAT could diminish the value it brings to your curriculum analysis, selection, or development process.

The HECAT is designed to support analysis of many health education curricula, some that focus on health outcomes related to a single topic (e.g., violence prevention) and some that address a comprehensive set of health outcomes across multiple health topics. You can choose the module(s) that best matches your needs and the focus of the curriculum under review.

The analysis of a comprehensive health education curriculum, using the CHE module, requires significant time and attention. There are more knowledge and skill expectations to be analyzed in a comprehensive curriculum than in a single topic curriculum. A comprehensive health education curriculum requires a greater depth of analysis of multiple topics compared to a single topic curriculum. It also requires an additional breadth of analysis across topics and grade groups not necessary in the analysis of a single topic curriculum.