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There is a growing acknowledgment that children’s health status directly affects their ability to learn and achieve academically.  It is difficult for children to be successful if they are tired, hungry, stressed, using drugs or alcohol, or being abused.  Coordinated school health (CSH) is a way to improve children’s health and remove barriers to learning.  CSH is about helping students become healthy adults, coordinating parents, schools, and communities, and teaching children how to make healthy choices.

A Coordinated School Health Program (CSHP) concentrates on the well-being of K-12 students. The program focuses not only on the collaboration of health and physical education, but includes other components needed to help schools become healthy and productive. These other components address food service, health services, counseling, psychological, and social services, staff wellness, and family and community support.

Why is there a need for CSHP?

• 1 in 7 students has been in a physical fight on school property
• Every 60 seconds a child is born to a teen mother
• Obesity affects 1 in 5 children in the U.S.
• Each day, 3,000 children start smoking—1 every 30 seconds
• 1 in 3 high school students reports having consumed 5 or more drinks in a row
• Every 4 hours, a child in America commits suicide

Many schools nationwide have already begun implementing their own approach to coordinated school health. Among them all, the common denominator is beneficial results! Research shows that some of these benefits include: (CCSSO/ASTHO results)

• Reduced school absenteeism
• Fewer behavior problems in the classroom
• Improved student performance, higher test scores, more alert students, and more positive attitudes among students
• New levels of cooperation and collaboration among parents, teachers, and organizations within the community
• A more positive spirit among educators and their students
• Young people who are more prepared to become productive members of society