Funding School Health Programs

Components of Coordinated School Health

August 2001

Healthy School Environment	Health Education	Parent & Community Involvement
Physical Education		Health Services
Counseling & Psychological Services	Nutrition Services	Health Promotion for Staff

America's youth are faced with difficult choices about tobacco use, alcohol, unhealthy diets, sexual behavior, pregnancy and drugs. Poor choices made during the teen years can develop into unhealthy life patterns resulting in heart disease, addiction, cancer, obesity and early death.

Adolescents need to be aware of the consequences of their choices around health; coordinated school health programs can play an important role in this process. In the United States, 48 million children sit in classrooms approximately six to eight hours each day, approximately 180 days per year. Schools are in a unique position to have a positive effect on 13- to 17-year-olds facing such difficult choices.

Many states, schools, and communities are turning to coordinated school health programs as a way of helping youth develop into healthy adults. These programs encourage healthy lifestyles and help reduce the risks of many medical problems.

The Division of Adolescent and School Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention includes these interactive components in their model of a coordinated school health program.

Health Education: A planned, sequential, K-12 curriculum that addresses the physical, mental, emotional and social dimensions of health. The curriculum is designed to motivate and assist students to maintain and improve their health, prevent disease, and reduce health-related risk behaviors. It allows students to develop and demonstrate increasingly sophisticated health-related knowledge, attitudes, skills and practices. The comprehensive curriculum includes a variety of topics such as personal health, family health, community health, consumer health, environmental health, sexuality education, mental and emotional health, injury prevention and safety, nutrition, prevention and control of disease, and substance use and abuse. Qualified, trained teachers provide health education.

Physical Education: A planned, sequential K-12 curriculum that provides cognitive content and learning experiences in a variety of activity areas such as basic movement skills; physical fitness; rhythms and dance; games; team, dual and individual sports; tumbling and gymnastics; and aquatics. Quality physical education promotes a variety of planned physical activities and sports that all students enjoy and can pursue throughout their lives. Qualified, trained teachers teach physical activity.

Health Services: Services provided for students to appraise, protect and promote health. These services are designed to ensure access and/or referral to primary health care services, foster appropriate use of primary health care services, prevent and control communicable disease and other health problems, provide emergency care for illness or injury, promote and provide optimum sanitary conditions for a safe school facility and school environment, and provide educational and counseling opportunities for promoting and maintaining individual, family, and community health. Qualified professionals such as physicians, nurses, dentists, health educators and other allied health personnel provide these services.

Nutrition Services: Access to a variety of nutritious and appealing meals that accommodate the health and nutrition needs of all students. School nutrition programs reflect the U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans and other criteria to achieve nutrition integrity. The school nutrition services offer students a learning laboratory for classroom nutrition and health education and serve as a resource for linkages with nutrition-related community services. Qualified child nutrition professionals provide these services.

Health Promotion for Staff: Opportunities for school staff to improve their health status through activities such as health assessments, health education and health-related fitness activities. These opportunities encourage school staff to pursue a healthy lifestyle that contributes to their improved health status, improved morale, and a greater personal commitment to the school's comprehensive health program. This personal commitment often transfers into greater commitment to the health of students and creates positive role modeling. Health promotion activities have improved productivity, decreased absenteeism, and reduced health insurance costs.

Counseling, Psychological, and Social Services: Services provided to improve students' mental, emotional and social health. These services include individual and group assessments, interventions and referrals. Organizational assessment and consultation skills of counselors and psychologists contribute not only to the health of students but also to the health of the school environment. Professionals such as certified school counselors, psychologists and social workers provide these services.

Healthy School Environment: The physical and aesthetic surroundings and the psychosocial climate and culture of the school. Factors that influence the physical environment include the school building and the area surrounding it; any biological or chemical agents that are detrimental to health; and physical conditions such as temperature, noise and lighting. The psychological environment includes the physical, emotional and social conditions that affect the well being of students and staff.

Parent/Community Involvement: An integrated school, parent and community approach for enhancing the health and well being of students. School health advisory councils, coalitions, and broadly based constituencies for school health can build support for school health program efforts. Schools actively solicit parent involvement and engage community resources and services to respond more effectively to the health-related needs of students.

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