The first standardized testing of public school and public charter school students on the subjects of human sexuality, drug use, contraception, nutrition and mental health will begin this spring with Washington D.C.

The Washington Post reports that students in grades 5, 8 and 10 will be taking the 50-question test, put together by local educators based on “sample questions devised by the Council of Chief State School Officers to improve the rigor of health education.”

D.C. has some of the country’s highest rates of childhood obesity and STDs. A 2009 study found that half of the chlamydia and gonorrhea diagnoses—half—were for D.C. residents ages 15-19. More than 3 percent of the District’s population over 12 were living with HIV or AIDS in that year, the Post says.

“What gets measured gets done,” Adam Tenner, executive director of the community health organization MetroTeenAIDS, told the Post. Tenner agrees with the testing but also feels that higher quality health education that goes to a deeper level is important. “We are not preparing teachers or students to get good, high-quality sex and reproductive education,” he said, adding, “We don’t need a test to tell us that we’re coming up short.”

Officials say the testing will help in understanding where that shortfall is coming from and tell them “what young people know and why they might behave the way they do,” the Post says.