| Coordinated School Health (CSH) is based on the premise that schools can improve students' academic performance and overall physical well being by promoting health in a systematic way. It emphasizes needs assessments; planning based on data, sound science, and analysis of gaps and redundancies in school health programming; and evaluation. Coordinated School Health outlines eight components that schools must address to tend to students' holistic health needs:
- Health Education
- Physical Education
- Health Services
- Nutrition Services
- Counseling and Psychological Services
- Healthy School Environment
- Health Promotion for Staff
- Family/Community Involvement
Many of these programs are already in place in schools, but are often fragmented.
Coordinated School Health is a system designed to purposefully integrate the efforts and resources of education and health to provide a full set of programs without duplication or fragmentation. It provides a practical, systematic, and cost-efficient approach to achieve the supports needed to promote the adoption of health enhancing behaviors. |