Background: The Healthy People 2020 objectives in school health education have brought attention to the elementary classroom. To meet the goal of increasing by 4% the total number of schools requiring health education, information on the current state of health education is necessary. Due to mandatory core curriculum testing and the instructional time it takes to prepare for testing, the probability of meeting the objectives is unlikely. Past programs to increase health education have been geared toward parts of the curriculum (i.e. obesity awareness, drug prevention programs) and utilizing only part of the curriculum may leave may leave gaps in the content knowledge of students, which could lead to potential health issues in their futures. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify barriers and enabling factors based on the social ecological model that either hinder or motivate the teaching of health in elementary schools. Also, the influence of core testing on teaching health explored the amounts of health is being taught and what is covered in the curriculum. This was done to better understand what areas of curriculum are missing, and to eventually create appropriate interventions for getting health instruction back into the classroom. Methods: Using a mixed-methods research design, this research study was conducted in two phases. A sample of 14 teachers was used in a focus group to help in developing the quantitative questionnaire. A Qualtrics survey was then e-mailed out to 140 elementary teachers. The data were then analyzed using SPSS and findings presented. Results: Teachers' perceived their personal knowledge of health, the school they work for, their co-workers, Common Core testing and policy, instructional time and lack of health resources as barriers. Teachers also indicated that the enabling factors were the influence of their students and their personal thoughts and feelings about health. Health is being taught by the majority of teachers, however none are meeting the 90 minute/week national recommendation. K-2 teachers cover the majority of the health curriculum, with the remainder of grades covering only three of fifteen topics. Readying students for Core Curriculum testing takes away from the teaching of health. Conclusions: To remedy the barriers to teaching health, teachers' knowledge of health needs emphasis. Furthermore continuing education on health pedagogy should be done at the local and state levels. More instructional time needs to be allotted for health and resources need to be used which integrate health into Common Core subjects, and educations' governing bodies need to become informed to better support health education. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]