Healthy Learners: The Link Between Health and Student Achievement
Healthy Learners: The Link Between Health and Student Achievement
The link between health and learning is real. Children that are hungry, abused or neglected, that have poor health or nutrition, or engage in risky behaviors often lack concentration, have learning problems and attend school less frequently than their healthier counterparts.
In Mississippi, superintendent Patrick Cooper has found by allocating funds to health services he was able to increase attendance, test scores and graduation rates, and decrease dropout rates.
School nurses are a vital part of making and keeping school students healthy. Along with their health services team, school nurses educate children and their parents about diseases and unhealthy behaviors, provide resources and referrals for health care information, help in the early identification of disease, provide treatments during the school day and promote healthy lifestyle choices just to name a few.
School districts alone often cannot afford to fully fund their health-related services. State and local health departments, special education funds, Medicaid, Title I, Safe and Drug Free Schools, and public and private grants are possible additional funding sources to help fully support health-related services in your district.
This article is based on an article written by Carol C. Costante, which was published in the January 2002 issue of the National School Boards Association's American School Board Journal.
To view the full article in a PDF format visit http://www.nsba.org/site/page_SH_home.asp?TRACKID=&VID=62&CID=1113&DID=12019
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