Healthy School Communities  
 

Becoming a Healthy School

Any school community can work toward the Healthy School Communities vision set out by ASCD.

Schools and communities come together around this vision for a variety of reasons:

  • They recognize that children come to school with many needs that affect their ability to learn.
  • They want to provide the best possible environment in which high-quality learning and teaching occur.
  • They recognize that schools are a part of the larger community, that the systems are interconnected, and that an environmental approach makes sense to address their students' needs.

Whatever the reason your school and community decide to come together, successful healthy school communities begin with two basic, interconnected steps:

  1. Gathering support
  2. Raising awareness

Gathering Support

Our experience with school community partnerships makes it clear that multiple champions are needed in order to sustain the partnerships over time.

At the school level, the principal is key to providing the necessary support for the work on which you are about to embark. Research shows a clear link between success and the level of support from the principal. In some circumstances, the principal may chair the team focusing on this work; however, the most effective and successful teams include a representative from the principal's office who has the authority to make decisions and gain support from other school personnel.

Other champions should come from family representative groups (PTA/PTO), community leaders (a school board, a local business), and the student body.

Finally, your champions must get support from among their constituencies.

Raising Awareness

Raising Awareness about the issues includes
  • Discussing the Healthy School Communities vision with staff, parents, the community, and students.
  • Doing your homework to learn about the links between health and learning (see "A Case for School Connectedness").
  • Ensuring that your school health or wellness team, if you have one, is engaged in the work. Healthy School Communities teams have a broader focus than many local wellness teams, but they have the experience of working together to address student and staff well-being. They can have frank discussions about how the wellness team's objectives intersect with the Healthy School Communities vision.
  • Talking about the goals of education in your community. The Healthy School Communities vision supports districts' goals. The vision supports a whole child approach to education.
  • Holding community meetings to discuss the vision.

Take the time you need to carry out these steps. If you rush the process, you may not get the depth of support that you will need over time. Remember, your stakeholders will not want to meet without some idea of what the next steps in the process will be.

After schools and communities determine that they want to come together to become healthier, the next step is to assess which of the qualities of a healthy school community they already have in place and which qualities either don't exist or need improvement.

Become a Healthy School Communities Associated Site

Schools and school districts may apply to become Healthy School Communities Associated Sites by completing an application and submitting it to the HSC staff for consideration.

Healthy School Communities Associated Sites receive these benefits:

Healthy School Communities Associated Sites have these responsibilities:

  • Submitting a memorandum of understanding through which they agree to use the Healthy School Communities vision as guiding principles for their work.
  • Identifying a Healthy School Communities team that will coordinate the efforts for participation. The team should include at least one representative from school administration, instructional staff, the student body, families, and the community. A school health coordinator should also be part of the team.
  • Assessing the school health program(s) at their site by purchasing and using Creating a Healthy School Using the Healthy School Report Card: An ASCD Action Tool.
  • Providing reporting and ongoing feedback to ASCD.

Eligibility

Applications to become Healthy School Communities Associated Sites are welcome from K–12 public and private schools and districts. International sites are also eligible to apply.

An applicant will provide evidence of the school or district's capacity and commitment to become a healthy school community based on the vision of the program.

Completing and Submitting the Application

Applications should be submitted by the site team member who will be considered the primary contact person for that site. Completed applications should be e-mailed to Healthy School Communities.

Applications can also be mailed to:

ASCD
Attn: Adriane Tasco
1703 N. Beauregard Street
Alexandria, VA 22311 USA

Applicants will be notified of their application's status in a timely manner. Please e-mail Healthy School Communities with any additional questions.

Staying Connected

Join the online exchange and share strategies, revised policies, best practices, and resources with other healthy school communities and ASCD staff using the Healthy School Communities Exchange online.