Why – MiSHCA

Why Schools?

The healthy development of children and adolescents is influenced by many societal institutions. After the family, the school is the primary institution responsible for the development of young people in the United States.

More Information at CDC Division of Adolescent School Health.

Schools have direct contact with more than 95 percent of our nation’s young people aged 5–17 years, for about 6 hours a day, and for up to 13 critical years of their social, psychological, physical, and intellectual development.
Schools play an important role in improving students’ health and social outcomes, as well as promoting academic success.

Health and learning are strongly connected. Evidence supports that healthy students perform better in school. Research shows the connection between students being physically active, eating healthy foods, and managing their chronic health conditions, improves test scores, grades, school attendance, and classroom behaviors.

Why Student Well-Being?

The health of young people is strongly linked to their academic success, and the academic success of youth is strongly linked with their health. Thus, helping students stay healthy is a fundamental part of the mission of schools. After all, schools cannot achieve their primary mission of education if students and staff are not healthy.

Healthy students are better learners. CDC Healthy Schools has more information on the link between health and academics.

Health-related factors, such as hunger, chronic illness, or physical and emotional abuse, can lead to poor school performance.¹
Health-risk behaviors such as substance use, violence, and physical inactivity are consistently linked to academic failure and often affect students’ school attendance, grades, test scores, and ability to pay attention in class.^2-4

The good news is that school health programs and policies may be one of the most efficient means to prevent or reduce risk behaviors and prevent serious health problems among students.⁵ Effective school health policies and programs may also help close the educational achievement gap.⁶

Why the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) Model?

The Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) Model is commonly called the Whole Child in Michigan. Our partners at Michigan ASCD help us promote the model throughout the state.

School health programs and policies in the United States have resulted, in large part, from a wide variety of federal, state and local mandates, regulations, initiatives, and funding streams. The result, in many schools, is a “patchwork” of policies and programs with differing standards, requirements, and populations to be served. In addition, the professionals who oversee the different pieces of the patchwork come from multiple disciplines: education, nursing, social work, psychology, nutrition, and school administration, each bringing specialized expertise, training, and approaches.

Recent CDC findings published in *Pediatrics* suggest that youth connectedness also has lasting effects. Youth who feel connected at school and at home were found to be as much as 66% less likely to experience health risk behaviors related to sexual health, substance use, violence, and mental health in adulthood. More information: CDC Adolescent Connectedness.

Coordinating the many parts of school health into a systematic approach can enable schools to:

Eliminate gaps and reduce redundancies across the many initiatives and funding streams
Build partnerships and teamwork among school health and education professionals in the school
Build collaboration and enhance communication among public health, school health, and other education and health professionals in the community
Focus efforts on helping students engage in protective, health-enhancing behaviors and avoid risk behaviors

Read more about the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child Model.

The Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) Model includes the following coordinated components: