The interactive or "inflight" decision-making of nine expert health teachers and 10 student health teachers was examined over a two-year period. The method for accessing thoughts of the teachers was the stimulated recall interview which first involved making a videotape of the lesson being taught. After the lesson, the researcher played the videotape and the teachers stopped the tape whenever they could recall what they were thinking at the time. Each interview was audiotaped and responses served as data for this study. Overall, expert health teachers made more interactive decisions in the classroom across a larger number of categories. Specifically, experts remembered making significantly more decisions in the five categories of pupil, content, procedures, time, and materials. Expert health teachers also were generally more cognizant of lesson objectives, more likely to modify the lesson, and better able to connect new material to students' prior learning. Recommendations for preservice and inservice professional development programs are offered.

Approximately 70% of American high schools enroll 1000 or more students each, while almost one half of high schools enroll more than 1500 students each. A growing body of evidence, however, is showing that small schools, especially small secondary schools, result in positive benefits for students, families, and communities that go beyond letter grades. Investigators have found that smaller high schools result in greater academic achievement, higher faculty morale, less student misbehavior, and greater family satisfaction. Recommended strategies to create a more personalized high school experience and improve performance include creating smaller "schools" within large schools, instituting career academies, reworking the school day, and employing teacher advisory systems. This article describes the prominent elements of effective small schools with implications for a strengthened "presence" of the coordinated school health program at the high school level.

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Outcome-based education is a topic of growing interest in educational circles today. More performance-oriented than traditional learning approaches, outcome-based education requires students to demonstrate what they know and what they can do. Because of this emphasis, outcome-based curricula will require new methods to assess student achievement. One approach is the portfolio, a repository that enables students to document authentic examples of academic work and presentations as well as nonschool accomplishments. The possibility of using portfolio-based assessment as a viable mechanism to promote comprehensive school health education is examined. Practical recommendations concerning portfolio development and evaluation are offered.