Coordinated School Health is an effective system designed to connect health and education. This coordinated approach to school health improves the health of students and their capacity to learn through the support of families, communities, and schools.
Schools by themselves cannot combat the nation’s most serious health and social problems. It takes a coordinated effort of many individuals, groups, organizations, and families to improve health and education. Schools, however, can provide a critical facility through which these groups can work together to improve the well-being of young people.
In order to establish baseline health information, the Office of Coordinated School Health collects confidential data. The data collected will help the Office of Coordinated School Health and Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools find opportunities for improving the health of students across our school district.
Provides a more efficient and effective way to use existing resources to meet the needs of students and staff. 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 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 HealthyPeople 2010 overall goals of:
increasing the quality and years of healthy life, and
eliminating health disparities (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2000).
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