New Report Outlines Ways to Align Health and Education in the School Setting
May 9, 2011 – ASCD has released a new publication to inform educators and education leaders of the need to align health and education in order to obtain a healthy and successful school community. According to the publication, schools that work purposefully toward enhancing the mental, social, emotional, and physical health of both their staff and students frequently report: higher academic achievement from students; increased staff satisfaction and decreased staff turnover; greater efficiency; the development of a positive school climate; and the development of a school-community culture that promotes and enhances student growth.
Chapters included in the publication describe the actions that schools and school communities need to take to realize systemic change that improves the health, well-being, growth, and development of their students, staff, and schools. The actions are divided into nine levers of change that focus on the administration, staff, students, and community at the school level and discuss among other issues: moving the school health leadership to the principal; making data meaningful for school improvement; involving stakeholders to increase sustainability; and the limits of programmatic change and the effect of systemic change on policy and practice.
The publication starts with a foreword that discusses the Coordinated School Health Model as well as the need for a new view of health and education. The publication states that what has held back educators and education leaders from wholeheartedly embracing health and well-being across their schools and systems is twofold: 1) There are schools that believe they exist only to educate children academically and 2) There are schools that appreciate the effects of health on student growth and learning, but that haven’t comprehensively aligned health and education.
According to the publication, there needs to be a change in how health and education are viewed and how the two operate, align, and integrate in the school and community setting. The biggest change must be in how the education world views health. And to better align, coordinate, and link health and education in the school setting, the school health conversation should be expanded to include educators – teachers, school staff, and administrators.
*From Tuesday, May 10 through Friday, May 13, ASCD will be holding a virtual conference on healthy school communities. Session topics will include: aligning health and education in school; improving school lunches; physical activity and physical education; mental health; and the "Healthy School Communities" model. Presenters will include, among others, Brian Wansink, Professor, Cornell University and autor of "Mindless Eating" and Charlene Burgeson, Executive Director of the National Association for Sport and Physical Education. The virtual conference will be hosted in a webinar format. Registration is free and will be open through the last day of the conference. To register, click here.
Source: "The Healthy School Communities Model: Aligning Health and Education in the School Setting," ASCD, 2011.