This document contains the core curriculum for a basic high school course for health care assistants. It is designed as a 1-semester course of study, after which students can take a course in an emphasis area, such as veterinary, nursing, pharmacology, or physical therapy, in which they learn skills for specific entry-level jobs. The curriculum guide begins with the following background information: a health occupations curriculum flowchart; a bibliography listing 51 references; a cross-reference of lessons from the nurse assistant in a long-term care facility curriculum with the health care assistant core; National Health Care Core Skill Standards; and a cross-reference of the National Health Care Core Skill Standards and the health care assistant core. The guide is divided into six units that cover the following topics: (1) the health care delivery system; (2) communication and observation skills; (3) safety; (4) concepts of microbiology; (5) anatomy and physiology; and (6) life stages. Within each unit, lesson plans break the content into manageable classroom lessons. Lesson plans contain some or all of the following: scope of the unit, lesson objectives, supplementary teaching and learning items, an informational assignment, references, an introduction, a lesson outline, summary, and conclusion, procedures for demonstrations (as needed), interaction items, classroom and laboratory activities, evaluation items with answers, and handouts. (KC)