1. Coordinated School Health Programs
Schools most pressing issues typically are: improving test scores, funding, and safety.
Coordinated school health can positively impact all of those, as well as improve the quality of life for students and staff.

2. Making the Link… Health + Academics Data Sources:
Healthy Kids Learn Better, CDC
Making the Connection: Health and Student Achievement,
ASTHO/SSDHPER, 2002
Policy Statement on School Health, CCSSO, 2004

3. Something to Ponder… Think about the students in your school/community
What health behaviors compromise their ability to succeed academically?
What’s the impact on your school district?

4. Some common issues… Not enough sleep Hungry, poor nutrition
Substance abuse problems
Tardiness to class because of smoking
Stressed-out
Afraid of violence
Family/peer problems that occupy their thinking
Sick, and don’t have health care available

5. What often happens in schools…
Health-related programs and activities are fragmented
No one is fully aware of what others are doing
Student’s health needs are unmet

6. Coordinated School Health Program
A planned and coordinated school-based program that is designed to enhance child and adolescent health
A framework around which existing and future district- and school-level programs and services can be organized
Successful programs usually start small.
These programs are built one year at a time, not in a burst of inspiration.

8. 1. School Environment To learn effectively, children must:
Feel comfortable and supported
Attend a safe, properly functioning school
Have minimal distractions
We’ve learned that students really pay attention to their physical environment.
Research indicates that an attractive, literary-rich environment will have many positive subconscious and conscious affects on the child.
Gunnison focus groups with students…

9. 2. Health Education
School staff can work together to develop an ongoing approach to help students build health-related knowledge and skills from kindergarten through high school graduation

10. 3. School Meals and Nutrition
The Reality:
Students often eat one or two meals a day at school
We have lots of opportunities to improve the quality of food that children consume in school. We can look beyond the school cafeteria to make improvements.
Vending machines
Snack policies for classroom parties
Using food as a reward

11. 4. Physical Education
Physical activity can build self-esteem and leadership skills and reduce stress
Brain research indicates a direct correlation between physical activity and a child’s potential to learn. Increased physical activity actually creates more dendrites within the brain cell. Physical activity also provides the brain with increased blood flow and oxygen.

12. 5. Health Services
Growing kids require a regular health “maintenance” program, including immunizations, dental checkups, physicals, and eye exams
A child’s brain is 225% more active than an adults.
In CSH, health services are not an isolated part of the school, but work in concert with all of the other components.

13. 6. Counseling, Psychological, and Mental Health Services
The Need:
Many students have the added stress of coping with emotional challenges
In Kremmling, a recent student survey indicated that virtually ALL students experience some type of stress during the school day. Over 60% indicated that they were extremely stressed..

14. 7. Staff Wellness The Reality:
Educators and school staff are important role models.
Successful schools have healthy, highly motivated staff with low rates of employee absenteeism
Nationwide, 60% of teachers report that they experience high and extremely unhealthy degrees of stress.

15. 8. Parent/Community Partnerships
Benefits:
A closer working relationship between parents and schools
Parents, businesses and community groups, and schools can form powerful coalitions to address health needs of students
Corporate sponsorships of schools can be directed toward supporting CSH

16. Coordinated School Health Programs
The Good News!
These components already exist in your school/district
The Challenge…
Coordinating these efforts

17. How Coordinated School Health Benefits Students
Improved student performance and test scores
Decreased risky behaviors
Reduced drop out rates
Less absenteeism
Less fighting
Improved rates of physical activity
Avenue to increase family involvement

18. Coordinated School Health Helps Schools…
Save money
Reduce duplication
Reduce absenteeism
Improve staff morale
Reduction in teacher absences
Support teacher teamwork

19. Linking Health and Academic Success
Reading and math scores of 3rd and 4th grade students who received comprehensive health education were significantly higher than those who did not receive it.

20. Linking Health and Academic Success
Students with poor nutrition and low levels of physical activity are more likely to be absent and tardy
School nutrition services can improve students’ scores on standardized tests

21. Linking Health and Academic Success
Physical activity among adolescents is consistently related to higher levels of self-esteem and lower levels of anxiety and stress

22. Linking Health and Academic Success
Intensive PE programs have positive effects on academic achievement even when time for PE is taken from the academic day:
Increased concentration
Improved math, reading, writing scores
Reduced disruptive behaviors

23. Linking Health and Academic Success
Schools with school-based health centers report:
Increased school attendance
Decreased drop-outs and suspensions
Higher graduation rates

24. What it looks like…
There is a system for coordinating health programming:
School health coordinator
School health teams
District-level school/community team

25. What it looks like… Multiple interventions exist: Policy Instruction
Direct intervention
Environmental change
Role modeling
Social support
Peer instruction
Media

26. Examples of success from other districts
School breakfast programs:
Increase learning and academic achievement
Improve student attention to academic tasks
Reduce visits to school nurse
Decrease behavioral problems

27. Examples of success from other districts
Increase Physical Activity:
Allocating a substantial proportion of curricular time to physical activity had positive effects on academic performance. (Shepard, 1997)
At the school level, build relationships with core teachers to integrate instruction. For example, find ways for kids to get “up and moving” in the reading classroom

28. Examples of Success from other districts
Take a look at the physical environment of the school
An improvement in the school’s condition (e.g., from poor to fair) is associated with a 5.5 point improvement in average achievement scores

29. Examples of success from other districts
Develop “positive bonding” with the school. Students who report this bonding are:
More likely to remain academically engaged
Less likely to be involved with misconduct at school or engage in activities that may put them at risk
Blum & Rinehart, 1997; Hawkins et al. 1992, 1999

30. Examples of success from other districts
Take a look at vending machines:
Substitute water, 100% fruit juice or milk for soda
Pay attention to placement of the machines and limit the amount of time the machines are on
Offer healthier choices such as trail mix, granola bars, fruit or nuts.

31. Examples of success from other districts
Adopt district-level policies that promote healthy schools and healthy students
Board-adopted policies may be the best way to ensure that health-promoting programs stay in place over time.

32. The Principal is Key…
A major key to the coordination and success of many CSH programs is the school principal.
Where plans have succeeded, the principal is a strong leader who promotes a spirit of teamwork.
Without the principal’s direction, the program will almost certainly not succeed.
“Lessons From the Field”, 2003, CDC

33. Administrators are looking for something that really works to help all children, and help the profession as a whole. Coordinated School Health will do that.
Pat Cooper, Superintendent, McComb, MS