BACKGROUND The effectiveness of health education methods courses for pre‐service elementary teachers has not been assessed for improving the pre‐service elementary teacher's self‐efficacy for using the professional teacher standards in health education (PTSHE). METHODS A quasi‐experimental design was used to assess pre‐service elementary teachers' self‐efficacy toward using the PTSHE. Four institutions whose elementary education programs provide a health education methods course were recruited to participate in the study. Students were recruited to participate and they completed the Pre‐service Health Education National Standards Self‐efficacy (PHENSS) Scale at the beginning and end of the semester. Data were analyzed using SPSS (version 15) software. RESULTS A significant increase in the PHENSS Scale scores indicated that a 3‐credit health education methods course could improve the pre‐service elementary teacher's self‐efficacy to use the national standards in their teaching of health education. Further analysis indicated statistically significant improvement of the participants' PHENSS scores in 2 of the 7 standards. CONCLUSION Teacher self‐efficacy can be a useful measure of the pre‐service elementary teachers' ability to use the national standards for health education. The design of the methods course may affect the PHENSS scores.