Promoting the health of the school-age child is no easy task. It cannot effectively be accomplished through the singular efforts of an individual, a school, or an agency. Often these groups find themselves duplicating services and competing with each other while working toward a similar goal. What is needed to serve the public effectively is sympathetic cooperation.. . I ince the early 1900s, the school health program has S been conceived to include three components: school health services, school health education, and the school health environment. During the past several decades, society has evolved rapidly. Health problems have changed. So have schools and students.In the early lWs, the major causes of morbidity and mortality largely were infectious agents; today the major causes largely are behaviors. At the end of World War 11, the average school district served 250 students; today it serves 2,500. Students today also are different. Three-quarters of youth now live in urban areas, onehalf of them will spend some part of their childhood with only one parent, more than one-half will have used an illegal drug before graduating from high school, and more than one-half will have engaged in non-marital sexual intercourse by the time they are 18.Nevertheless, the future of young people may be brighter than ever before. As the current leading causes of morbidity and mortality emerged, such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, and motor vehicle crashes, health professionals have learned how to diagnose and treat them more effectively. They have learned how behaviors such as tobacco use, consumption of saturated and total fat, failure to use safety belts, contributed to them, and we have learned how to help others avoid behaviors that are pathogenic and adopt behaviors that improve health. We also have learned how health, and certain health-related behaviors, contribute to cognitive performance and educational achievement. As Michael Statement of Purpose The /oumal of School Health. an official publication of the American School Health Association, publishes material related to health promotion in school settings. loumal readership includes administrators, educators, nurses, physicians, dentists. dcntal hygienists, psyrhnlngists, counselors, social workers, nutritionists, dieticians. and other health professionals. These individuals work cooperatively with parents and the community to achieve the common goal of providing children and adolescents with the programs, services, and environment necessary to promote health and to improve learning Contributed manuscripts are considered for publication in the following categories: general articles, research papers, commentaries, teaching techniques, and health service applications. Primary consideration is given to manuscripts related to the health of children and adolescents, and to the health of employees, in public and private pre-schools and child day care centers, kindergartens, elementary schools, middle level schools, and senior high schools. Manuscripts related to colle...

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BackgroundOver the past 30 years, obesity in the United States has increased twofold in children and threefold in adolescents. In Georgia, nearly 17% of children aged 10 – 17 are obese. In response to the high prevalence of child obesity in Georgia and the potential deleterious consequences that this can have, HealthMPowers was founded in 1999 with the goal of preventing childhood obesity by improving health-enhancing behaviors in elementary schools, utilizing a holistic three-year program. This study measures the effectiveness of the HealthMPowers program in improving the school environment, student knowledge, behavior, cardiovascular fitness levels, and Body Mass Index (BMI).MethodsThe present analysis utilizes data from 40 schools that worked with HealthMPowers over the course of the 2012 – 2013 school year (including schools at each of the three years of the intervention period) and provided information on demographics, student knowledge and behaviors, BMI, performance on the PACER test of aerobic capacity, and school practices and policies (measured via school self-assessment with the HealthMPowers-developed instrument “Continuous Improvement Tracking Tool” or CITT), measured at the beginning and end of each school year. Paired two-sample T tests were used to compare continuous variables (e.g., student knowledge scores, BMI-for-age Z scores), while chi-squared tests were used to assess categorical variables (e.g., trichotomized PACER performance).ResultsStudents across all grades and cohorts demonstrated improvements in knowledge and self-reported behaviors, with particularly significant improvements for third-graders in schools in the second year of the HealthMPowers program (p < 0.0001). Similarly, decreases were observed in BMI-for-Age Z scores for this cohort (and others) across grades and gender, with the most significant decreases for students overweight or obese at baseline (p < 0.0005). Students also showed significant increases in performance on the PACER test across grades and cohorts (p < 0.0001). Lastly, schools tended to improve their practices over time, as measured via the CITT instrument.ConclusionsThe present report demonstrates the effectiveness of the HealthMPowers program in producing positive change in school policies and practices, student knowledge and behaviors, and student fitness and BMI, supporting the use of holistic interventions to address childhood obesity.

BACKGROUNDCollaborative partnerships are an essential means to concomitantly improve both education outcomes and health outcomes among K-12 students.METHODSWe describe examples of contemporaneous, interactive, and evolving partnerships that have been implemented, respectively, by a national governmental health organization, national nongovernmental education and health organizations, a state governmental education organization, and a local nongovernmental health organization that serves partner schools.RESULTSEach of these partnerships strategically built operational infrastructures that enabled partners to efficiently combine their resources to improve student education and health.CONCLUSIONSTo implement a Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child Framework, we need to purposefully strengthen, expand, and interconnect national, state, and local collaborative partnerships and supporting infrastructures that concomitantly can improve both education and health.

BACKGROUNDStudents are the heart of the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) model. Students are the recipients of programs and services to ensure that they are healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged and also serve as partners in the implementation and dissemination of the WSCC model.METHODSA review of the number of students nationwide enjoying the 5 Whole Child tenets reveals severe deficiencies while a review of student-centered approaches, including student engagement and student voice, appears to be one way to remedy these deficiencies.RESULTSResearch in both education and health reveals that giving students a voice and engaging students as partners benefits them by fostering development of skills, improvement in competence, and exertion of control over their lives while simultaneously improving outcomes for their peers and the entire school/organization.CONCLUSIONSCreating meaningful roles for students as allies, decision makers, planners, and consumers shows a commitment to prepare them for the challenges of today and the possibilities of tomorrow.