A practical guide for Oklahoma educators and administrators on the state's two health education mandates, the Oklahoma Academic Standards for Health Education, and how to address social-emotional skills within the required health education framework.
Oklahoma has two laws that create clear requirements for social-emotional content in elementary schools, even though neither law uses the term “SEL.”
The Health Education Act (SB 89, effective 2021) requires all PK-12 students to receive instruction on the Oklahoma Academic Standards for Health Education beginning in the 2023-2024 school year.[1] Maria's Law (HB 1568, effective 2022) requires the State Board of Education to mandate that all schools provide instruction in mental health, emphasizing the connection between physical and mental well-being.[2]
The Oklahoma Academic Standards for Health Education include instruction in mental and emotional health, healthy relationships, communication skills, decision-making, and goal setting. These are the skills that CASEL's five competencies describe, delivered through health education language.
Oklahoma's Health Education Timeline
2020
AdoptedOAS-H Standards of Practice
8 standards of practice for health education established
2021
EnactedSB 89 — Health Education Act
Mandates health education at every elementary grade level
2022
EnactedHB 1568 — Maria's Law
Requires age-appropriate mental health curriculum in every grade
2026
PendingOAS-H Standards Revision
Draft approved Jan 2026; submitted to legislature
The Two Mandates
SB 89: The Health Education Act (2021)
Requires all PK-12 students to receive instruction on the Oklahoma Academic Standards for Health Education. Directed OSDE to develop teacher micro-credentials and professional development programs supporting health education instruction.[1]
HB 1568: Maria's Law (2022)
Requires the State Board of Education to mandate that all schools provide instruction in mental health, with emphasis on the interrelation between physical and mental well-being, beginning with the 2022-2023 school year.[2]
What These Laws Mean Together
The combined effect is that every Oklahoma elementary school must provide health education that includes mental health instruction. The Oklahoma Academic Standards for Health Education define what that instruction should include. And the content within those standards addresses the same skills that social-emotional learning programs teach.
Oklahoma Academic Standards for Health Education
What the Standards Include
The Oklahoma Academic Standards for Health Education (OAS-H), adopted in 2020, organize health instruction around eight standards of practice:[3]
Standard 1: Essential Health Knowledge — comprehending concepts including mental and emotional health
Standard 2: Analyzing Influences — understanding how peers, family, culture, media influence health behaviors
Standard 3: Accessing Information — accessing valid health information and resources
Standard 4: Interpersonal Communication — using communication skills to enhance health
Standard 5: Decision-Making — using decision-making skills to enhance health
Standard 6: Goal Setting — using goal-setting skills to enhance health
Standard 7: Self-Management — practicing health-enhancing behaviors and reducing risks
Standard 8: Advocacy — advocating for personal, family, and community health
Social-Emotional Content Within the Standards
| OAS-H Standard | Mental/Emotional Health Application | CASEL |
|---|---|---|
| Standard 1: Essential Knowledge | Understanding emotions, mental health, healthy relationships | Self-Awareness + Social Awareness |
| Standard 2: Analyzing Influences | Recognizing how peers, family, culture affect emotional health | Social Awareness |
| Standard 4: Communication | Expressing emotions, resolving conflicts, building relationships | Relationship Skills |
| Standard 5: Decision-Making | Making responsible choices about behavior and relationships | Responsible Decision-Making |
| Standard 6: Goal Setting | Setting personal and academic goals | Self-Management |
| Standard 7: Self-Management | Managing emotions, practicing self-control | Self-Management |
| Standard 8: Advocacy | Advocating for personal and community health | Social Awareness + Relationship Skills |
Standards Revision (2025-2026)
The OAS-H are currently being revised. The State Board of Education approved draft revisions on January 22, 2026, and the standards have been submitted to the Oklahoma Legislature for consideration during the 2026 session.[4] Schools should monitor OSDE announcements for the finalized revised standards and be prepared to review their curriculum alignment when the new version is adopted.
How Oklahoma's Requirements Converge
Three separate policy actions all point to the same classroom outcome:
SB 89
Health ed at every grade
Maria's Law
Mental health curriculum
OAS-H Standards
8 standards of practice
Classroom Outcome
Students receive structured, age-appropriate social-emotional and mental health instruction every year, K-5
How to Build an Elementary Program Within Oklahoma's Framework
Step 1: Meet the Health Education Act Requirement
SB 89 requires instruction on the Oklahoma Academic Standards for Health Education for all PK-12 students.[1] At minimum, your program should cover:
K-2:
Identifying and expressing emotions in healthy ways, understanding that health includes emotional and social dimensions, recognizing trusted adults who can help, practicing basic communication and relationship skills
3-5:
Managing emotions and stress using specific strategies, resolving conflicts through communication, understanding how peers and culture influence behavior, setting goals for personal health, making responsible decisions about relationships and behavior
A comprehensive scope and sequence delivered through weekly lessons exceeds the minimum standards and provides the sustained instruction that produces genuine skill development.
Step 2: Address Maria's Law
Maria's Law requires mental health instruction emphasizing the connection between physical and mental well-being.[2] A CASEL-aligned SEL curriculum that teaches self-awareness, emotional regulation, and help-seeking skills provides the foundation for Maria's Law compliance.
Step 3: Use the OAS-H Standards of Practice
When teaching mental and emotional health content through the standards of practice, the instruction becomes active and skill-based:
Standard 4 (Communication): Students practice expressing emotions and resolving disagreements healthily
Standard 5 (Decision-Making): Students practice making responsible choices in social and emotional situations
Standard 6 (Goal Setting): Students practice setting and monitoring personal goals
Standard 7 (Self-Management): Students practice managing emotions and building healthy behavioral habits
Step 4: Connect to School Safety
Frame your social-emotional instruction as a school safety investment. Students who can manage emotions, resolve conflicts, make responsible decisions, and communicate with trusted adults directly contribute to the safe school climate every Oklahoma community values.[5]
Step 5: Embed in MTSS
Tier 1
Universal instruction delivered weekly to all students, addressing the OAS-H mental and emotional health standards.
Tier 2
Targeted small-group support for students needing additional skill practice.
Tier 3
Individualized intervention for students with significant needs, including IEP-aligned goals.
Communicating With Oklahoma Communities
Lead With the Law
“Oklahoma law requires all PK-12 students to receive instruction on the Oklahoma Academic Standards for Health Education (SB 89). Maria's Law additionally requires mental health instruction in all schools (HB 1568). Our program addresses these requirements by teaching students to understand their emotions, manage stress, communicate effectively, set goals, and make responsible decisions.”
Describe Practical Skills
Focus on what students actually learn: managing frustration, resolving disagreements peacefully, setting and working toward goals, building healthy friendships, and making responsible decisions.
Connect to Community Values
“We teach students to take responsibility for their choices, manage their own emotions, solve their own problems, and treat others with respect.”
Oklahoma's Context
39 Tribal Nations
Oklahoma is home to 39 tribal nations, more than any other state. Social-emotional instruction that is culturally responsive to the diverse Native American cultures represented in Oklahoma's schools serves both educational effectiveness and cultural respect. Programs with diverse characters and multiple perspectives serve Oklahoma's student population authentically.
Growing Multilingual Population
Oklahoma's Hispanic/Latino population has grown significantly, particularly in the Oklahoma City metro area and western Oklahoma. Bilingual English and Spanish curriculum supports equitable access to health education and mental health instruction for these students.
Rural Realities
Many Oklahoma districts serve small, rural communities with limited staff, technology infrastructure, and professional development access. Device-free, teacher-led programs with minimal prep requirements serve these settings effectively.
Choosing a Curriculum for Oklahoma Schools
When selecting curriculum for your Oklahoma elementary school, verify that the program:
Addresses the OAS-H mental and emotional health content
The Health Education Act requires instruction on these standards at every elementary grade level.
Meets Maria's Law requirements
Mental health instruction emphasizing the connection between physical and mental well-being must be addressed explicitly.
Builds practical skills through the standards of practice
Communication, decision-making, goal setting, self-management, and advocacy require active skill building, not just content knowledge.
Provides grade-band differentiation
K-2 and 3-5 students need different vocabulary, complexity, and approaches.
Offers a full-year scope and sequence
Sustained weekly instruction produces the skill development that isolated health education lessons cannot.
Supports bilingual learners
Oklahoma's growing multilingual population benefits from bilingual English and Spanish curriculum.
Works in rural settings
No device requirements, minimal prep, all materials included.
Connects to school safety
OSDE's Safe and Healthy Schools program connects health education to school safety priorities.
Does not require student accounts
Device-free programs eliminate data privacy concerns.
What to Avoid
Ignoring the mandates
SB 89 and Maria's Law are laws, not suggestions. Every Oklahoma school must provide health education instruction that includes mental health content. Schools that do not address the mental and emotional health components are not meeting legal requirements.
Waiting for the standards revision
The OAS-H are being revised, but the current standards are in effect and both laws remain in force regardless of which version of the standards is current. Implement now and adjust when the revised standards are finalized.
Separating mental health instruction from skill building
Maria's Law requires mental health instruction, but understanding mental health conceptually without learning skills to manage it is incomplete. A comprehensive program that teaches both knowledge and skills serves the law's intent.
Treating health education as just physical health
The OAS-H explicitly address mental, emotional, and social health alongside physical health. Schools that deliver health education focused exclusively on nutrition, exercise, and disease prevention are not covering the full scope of the standards.
Final Thoughts
Oklahoma's Health Education Act and Maria's Law create clear, legally required pathways for social-emotional instruction in elementary schools. The Oklahoma Academic Standards for Health Education define what that instruction should include: understanding emotions, managing mental health, communicating effectively, making responsible decisions, setting goals, and advocating for personal and community wellbeing.
The laws require the instruction. The standards define the content. The students need the skills. Implementation is the step that serves them.
References
- Oklahoma Legislature. (2021). SB 89: Health Education Act. https://oklahoma.gov/education/services/standards-learning/safe-and-healthy-schools/school-health-services/safe-and-healthy-schools-legislation.html
- Oklahoma Legislature. (2022). HB 1568: Maria's Law. https://oklahoma.gov/education/services/standards-learning/safe-and-healthy-schools/school-health-services/safe-and-healthy-schools-legislation.html
- Oklahoma State Department of Education. (2020). Oklahoma Academic Standards for Health Education. https://oklahoma.gov/education/services/standards-learning/health.html
- Oklahoma State Department of Education. (2026). New standards: Health and Physical Education revision. https://oklahoma.gov/education/services/standards-learning/oklahoma-academic-standards/new-standards.html
- Oklahoma State Department of Education. (n.d.). Safe and Healthy Schools. https://oklahoma.gov/education/services/standards-learning/safe-and-healthy-schools.html
- Speechscape. (2025). Oklahoma's social emotional learning standards: Teacher's guide. https://speechscape.com/oklahoma-social-emotional-learning-standards-teachers-guide/
- Durlak, J. A., Weissberg, R. P., Dymnicki, A. B., Taylor, R. D., & Schellinger, K. B. (2011). The impact of enhancing students' social and emotional learning: A meta-analysis of school-based universal interventions. Child Development, 82(1), 405-432. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01564.x
- Cipriano, C., Strambler, M. J., Naples, L. H., et al. (2023). The state of evidence for social and emotional learning: A contemporary meta-analysis of universal school-based SEL interventions. Child Development, 94(5), 1181-1204. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13968
Health Education and Life Skills for Oklahoma Students
Be The Buffalo teaches students to manage emotions, set goals, resolve conflicts, make responsible decisions, and build healthy relationships through 40 weeks of K-5 curriculum.
Addresses Oklahoma Academic Standards for Health Education mental and emotional health content and Maria's Law mental health instruction requirement. Bilingual English and Spanish. No student accounts. No devices. No prep.
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