Coordinated School Health

The physical, social and emotional health of students can support or hinder their academic success and their prospects for a productive and healthy life. State and national data reveal that many Tennessee students engage in unhealthy behaviors that are detrimental to both their health and academic success. Additionally, data indicate that school environments may not be as supportive as they could be of students’ health. Yet, in spite of these and other challenges, Tennessee schools can have a powerful influence on improving students’ well-being and readiness to learn.

Our Mission:

“The mission of Coordinated School Health is to improve students’ health and their capacity to learn through the support of families, communities and schools.”

CSH Model:

The CDC’s Coordinated School Health (CSH) model is a systematic approach that ensures that a school community effectively links health with educational success. Although these components are listed separately, it is their composite that allows CSH to have significant impact. CSH is implemented in a way that fits the unique needs and resources of each school community. The eight components of CSH are:

• Health Education
• Health Services
• Counseling, Psychological and Social Services
• Physical Education
• Nutrition Services
• Student, Family/Community Involvement
• Healthy School Environment
• Health Promotion for Staff

Goals:

1. Establish and maintain state and local partnerships necessary to implement the CSH model statewide.
2. Create awareness about the importance of students’ health and wellness to their academic success and prospects for future work.
3. Maximize the ability of each school community to adopt and implement the CSH model by providing resources, materials and technical assistance to meet the needs of that school community.
4. Promote a healthy school environment in all Tennessee school communities.
5. Provide annual evaluation and needs assessment for monitoring CSH in each school community.

CSH Outcomes:

• Increased the number of students who received screening to include Body Mass Index (BMI) and blood pressure
• Reduced Absenteeism
• Improved nurse-to-student ratios resulting in increased class time
• Increased access to health care services t Increased health education

Our Approach – We believe:

• Adults and students in a school community can take action to protect and enhance students’ health by providing a healthy school environment and using effective health education strategies.
• It is vital to take a dual approach to students’ health by reducing students’ risky behaviors and increasing students’ capacity to effectively deal with current and future health challenges.
• It is important to help students acquire the necessary knowledge, skills, and attitudes to make informed decisions about their health and reduce risky behaviors.

Successful Strategies:

• Create awareness of how health impacts academic outcomes.
• Understand that health has three interconnected components – physical, social and emotional.
• Keep in mind that students’ health is influenced on three different fronts – school, family and community.
• Take a comprehensive approach to the health education of students.
• Work with school communities to take a systems change approach that emphasizes parent involvement, healthy school environments, community partnerships, and students’ connectedness to school.

Activities to Date:

• T.C.A. § 49-1-1002: The Coordinated School Health Improvement Act of 2000 provided funding for 10 school districts to become CSH pilot sites.
• State CSH legislation, guidelines/standards and policies have been established.
• The Office of Coordinated School Health has been created within the Tennessee Department of Education. Additional positions have been filled to assist with the CSH statewide expansion.
• Annual outcome-based evaluation of CSH has been implemented since 2002.
• Legislation to provide CSH funding for all school systems was passed in 2006.
• Several state and regional conferences have been held to promote CSH in partnership with Action for Healthy Kids, Tennessee School Health Coalition, TAHPERD and state universities.
• The CSH partnership has led to greater collaboration among the Tennessee Department of Education, the Tennessee Department of Health and community-based organizations.
• The State Board of Education has approved state school health policies to help the mission of CSH.
• Many CSH presentations have been made to national, state and local organizations.

Initial Local Empowerment:

Beginning in 2001, the Office of Coordinated School Health implemented the CDC Allensworth/Kolbe model in ten state-funded Coordinated School Health Improvement pilot sites: Henry County, Loudon County, Macon County, Monroe County, Putnam County, Tipton County, Trenton SSD & Gibson County, Stewart County, Warren County, and Washington County.

The remaining Tennessee school systems began CSH on July 1, 2007.

State Information:

The Office of CSH provides consultation and technical assistance to all school districts.

Call 615-532-6300 for assistance. TDOE

Coordinated School Health Objectives

Data Collection:

This includes getting health information from the students such as blood pressure, 1 mile walk/run times, and the Youth Risk Behavior Survey.

This information is needed to find out what areas are dealing with specific problems which will enable us to address these issues with evidence based programs that will meet their needs.

Currently we do not have health data on children in Hamilton County. Once we have this information, there will be better opportunities to apply for grants which will create more opportunities to support schools and the community to enhance the health of our students.

Environmental Changes:

Schools need to have an environment that supports health physically, socially, and mentally. This includes factors such as temperature, noise, lighting, safety, and aesthetic surroundings.

Examples of environmental changes include putting up health promoting posters throughout the school, revamping cafeterias to include colorful murals of the food pyramid, or building a walking track on the school property.

Policy Changes:

Policy changes are vital for long term success for health promotion in schools. An example of a policy change in CSH would be for teachers to incorporate health education within their normal subject.

One important new policy change is the 90 minutes of Physical Activity Law which states that every student in TN grades K-12 must get 90 minutes of physical activity per week during school hours.

Organize Programs:

Our community is fortunate to have a lot of good people, resources, and companies who want to help in our endeavor to change the health of our children.

Many of these programs want to get into the schools to promote different aspects of health to the children. Coordinated School Health has the responsibility to understand what each program does and find out if it is evidence based and successful. We can match the programs with appropriate schools that would benefit from them.

The Tennessee Department of Education works in collaboration with the Tennessee Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention to implement Coordinated School Health (CSH) in Tennessee. Based upon passage of The Coordinated School Health Improvement Act of 1999, Chapter 554 and the subsequent 2006 Public Chapter 1001, CSH was created and funded with state budget dollars to implement CSH to all school systems in Tennessee. Funds support the development of a local infrastructure to promote health and wellness for all students and staff and thereby decrease barriers that prevent students from achieving their full academic potential.

8 Components of Coordinated School Health Initiative

Tennessee’s Coordinated School Health initiative is based on the CDC’s model that includes the following eight components:

Coordinated School Health Achievements

• Being overweight/obese is associated with poorer academic achievement (Taras H, Potts-Datema W, 2005).
• Schools that offer free, high quality breakfast programs show student increases in academic achievement, class participation and daily attendance (Powell, CA, 1998).
• Schools that offer intense physical activity programs have shown positive effects on student academic achievement (Symons, CW, 1997).
• Better social, emotional and decision making skills are associated with higher test scores and higher grades (Fleming CB, et. al, 2005).

Coordinated School Health Benefits

• Improved nurse to student ratio
• Reduced absenteeism
• Increased physical education/activity
• Increased access to health care services
• Students are better informed for making healthy decisions for life

Coordinate School Health Kids’ Links

• My Pyramid for Kids has fun games, posters, coloring pages, and educational materials to help you learn more about the importance of nutrition.
• Get up, get active and earn cool prizes! The American Heart Association features professional athletes who value health and want you to be healthy as well.
• VERB, It’s what you do is a fun and interactive website where you can create your own character who will move when you move, and the “Game Generator” will help you make up a fun new game to play with your friends.

Coordinated School Health Community Links

The following links will take you to helpful resources related to the Coordinated School Health mission.

• School Nutrition Program – Hamilton County Schools School Nutrition information
• Outdoor Chattanooga is an organization that promotes outdoor recreation through local events and community outreach that will enhance the health and well-being of citizens and visitors of our city.
• Things to Do! – Chattanooga Parks and Recreation will provide upcoming events and information about the various recreational and leisure opportunities for all ages and abilities.
• TN. gov – School Health – The TN CSH site a comprehensive overview of what our state is doing to prevent illness and increase health and academic performance for our students.

• 6.402 School Board Wellness Policy
• Wellness Assessment Tool