Coordinated School Health
Description of a Coordinated School Health Program
A coordinated school health program is an effective system designed to connect health with education. This coordinated approach to school health improves students’ health and their capacity to learn through the support of families, communities and schools.
Rationale for Coordinated School Health Programs
A coordinated approach:
- Provides a more efficient and effective way to use existing resources to meet the needs of students and staff. Currently funding for school programs is often categorical (issue specific) and programs are fragmented, with many gaps and overlaps.
- Contributes to the equality of students’ opportunity to learn and to achieve Maine’s Learning Results criteria across school systems.
- Increases the potential impact of individual components. (Allensworth, 1994).
There is evidence that shows the positive impact of one or more components on student health and learning outcomes. School administrators (McKenzie and Richmond, 1998) also report that coordinating health initiatives results in:
- Reduced absenteeism
- Fewer classroom behavior problems
- Improved academic performance
- Greater interest in healthy diets
- Increased participation in fitness activities
- Delayed onset of certain health risk behaviors
- Less smoking among students and staff
- Lower rates of teen pregnancy
It is anticipated that these positive effects on student and staff health will in turn help to achieve the Healthy People 2010 overall goals of:
- Increasing the quality and years of healthy life
- Eliminating health disparities (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2000)
