Since its inception, CHL has been working with other national organizations to promote comprehensive and coordinated models at the school and local level for addressing the health concerns of children and families that impact school success. The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) is a global community comprised of 140,000 education leaders dedicated to excellence in learning, teaching and leading.
ASCD’s Whole Child Initiativehas been seeking to create a new vision for education that moves beyond a narrow focus on academic achievement to a broad and holistic commitment to the long-term development and success of children. This initiative builds on the longstanding work of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), which first introduced the need for comprehensive and coordinated approaches to school health that include engagement of community stakeholders to address the health needs of children while promoting academic success.
In their 2014 publication, “Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child”, ASCD and CDC together make a strong argument for “greater alignment, integration, and collaboration between health and education to improve each child’s cognitive, physical, social and emotional development.”
CHL’s pioneering work in linking health and education, together with its innovative accomplishments in suicide and addictions prevention and the promotion of mental health wellness, make its staff highly qualified to work with federal, state and local organizations to align and activate these forward-looking models and advance the revolution in health promotion and learning. CHL’s Ecological Model for Advancing Health and Learning seeks to integrate and coordinate all levels and sectors of the system to significantly improve health and learning outcomes for children, families and communities.
What is School Health?
The field of School Health promotes the health, well-being and academic success of pre-k to 12 children and youth by educating stakeholders about the critical role of health in academic success and by focusing strategies that forge connections between health and learning.
School health professionals at the local level often work in isolation and in silos at the state level. It is time for us to become a more coordinated influential body and to promote the messages, tools and resources that fuse the links between health and learning for positive outcomes for children, youth, young adults and families.
CHL designs and implements strategies that support school health:
- Supports networks of professionals with workforce development, tools and resources to promote the health, wellbeing and academic success of pre k through twelve children and youth
- Engages school and state leadership to support policies linkages and programs that promote school based health and wellness initiatives that contribute to academic success
- Supports systems linkages between community providers healthcare and mental health and others
Health Education
Health education is a social science that draws from the biological, environmental, psychological, physical and medical sciences to promote health and prevent disease, disability and premature death through knowledge, attitude and behavior change activities.
See Professional Development Services & Trainings for more information about CHL’s work with health education.
School Environments, Discipline & Climate
The Center for Health and Learning provides technical assistance and training to strengthen school discipline and climate. The purpose of such services is to assist schools in building their capacity to humanely and effectively maintain a safe, healthy, and positive learning environment for students and adults that is free from bullying, harassment and other forms of misconduct.
Technical assistance and/or training focuses on one or more of four major areas of school discipline and climate as outlined below.
Creating a Positive Work Environment for School Staff
Emphasis is placed on establishing a professional environment that is socially and emotionally safe, empowering and collaborative. Work in this area combines an understanding of the basic needs that motivate behavior, norms of healthy school culture, and elements of school staff resiliency. Skill building in collaboration, problem solving, consensus formation nonviolent communication, and conflict resolution are also provided.
Family Engagement and Community Partnerships
Emphasis is placed on developing genuine, proactive partnerships with parents and guardians. Work in this area involves strengthening participants’ understanding of social capital, school-based service delivery models, social competency and principles and strategies of family-centered practices.
Disciplinary System and Behavior Management
Emphasis is placed on balancing prevention and intervention. Work in this area can include the development and/or review of: policies; principles and rules of conduct; a “level” behavior management system; and disciplinary procedures, practices and strategies (including crisis response) that are aimed at helping students learn to be responsible members of their school community.
Like other forms of capital resources (e.g., the capital that pays for school materials and equipment) social capital pertains to the way in which schools organize and take advantage of the relationships/networks that exist and/or can be developed among families, the community, and the school.
To request further information, please contact: info@healthandlearning.org.
What CHL can do to support health education
- Adapt the national health education standards to meet content and skill standards at the local level that promote the development of core social skill and academic competencies
- Adapt state and local curriculum to the National Health Education and Physical Education Standards
- Train health and physical educators to use the Health Education or Physical Education Curriculum Analysis tools
- Develop local Personalized Learning Plans
- Develop proficiency based graduation requirements
- Meet state Educational Quality Standards or other mandates
- Assess school health programs using the School Health Index
- Facilitate state and local meetings and learning communities that build capacity for school health
- Provide training, mentoring and support for School Health Coordinators and Health Educators
See more of our Professional Development Services.
CHL Trainings on Critical Health Topics
- Mental Health Wellness Promotion
- Suicide Prevention
- Sexual Violence Prevention
- Bullying and Harassment mitigation
- Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drug Education
- Risk and Protective Factors
- Assets and Resiliency
- Disease, Violence and Injury Prevention
See more of our Trainings
For more information on Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child visit: ASCD: https://www.ascd.org/programs/learning-and-health/wscc-model.aspx & the Centers for Disease Control: https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/wscc/
