School Health Index
School Health Index - CDC
What is the School Health Index Self Assessment & Planning Guide?
The School Health Index (SHI) is a self-assessment and planning tool that schools can use to improve their health and safety policies and programs
Why Use SHI?
Promoting healthy and safe behaviors among students is an important part of the fundamental mission of schools, which is to provide young people with the knowledge and skills they need to become healthy and productive adults. Improving student health and safety can
- Increase students’ capacity to learn,
- Reduce absenteeism, and
- Improve physical fitness and mental alertness.
Who Developed the SHI?
The SHI was developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in partnership with school administrators and staff, school health experts, parents, and national non-governmental health and education agencies for the purpose of:
- Enabling schools to identify strengths and weaknesses of health and safety policies and programs,
- Enabling schools to develop an action plan for improving student health, which can be incorporated into the School Improvement Plan, and
- Engaging teachers, parents, students, and the community in promoting health-enhancing behaviors and better health.
There is a growing recognition of the relationship between health and academic performance, and your school’s results from using the SHI can help you include health promotion activities in your overall School Improvement Plan.
Who Completes the SHI?
Healthy & Fit School Advisory Committees complete the eight self-assessment modules and a planning for improvement process. The self-assessment process involves members of your HFSAC discussing what your school is already doing to promote good health and identifying your strengths and weaknesses. The SHI allows you to assess the extent to which your school implements the types of policies and practices recommended by CDC in its research-based guidelines for school health and safety policies and programs.
After you HFSAC completes the self-assessment process, the committee will be asked to identify recommended actions your school can take to improve its performance in areas that received low scores. You will then be guided through a simple process for prioritizing the various recommendations. This step will help you select various actions to be implemented. Finally you will complete the School Health Improvement Plan to list your steps in planning the implementation of your recommended actions. Completely the SHI is an important first step toward improving your school’s health promotion policies and practices, but remember you do not have to complete the whole SHI at one time; it is recommended that you focus one module at a time. Your school can then act to implement the School Health Improvement Plan and develop an ongoing process for monitoring progress and reviewing your recommendations for change.
What School Health Topics Does the SHI Address?
The items in the SHI are based on CDC’s research-based guidelines for school health programs, which identify the policies and practices most likely to be effective in improving youth health risk behaviors. The SHI is structured around CDC’s eight-component model of a coordinated school health program (CSHP). This model highlights the importance of involving all eight components, which can have a powerful impact on student health behaviors. The eight modules in the SHI correspond to the eight components of a coordinated school health program. The eight modules are:
- School Health and Safety Policies and Environment
- Health Education
- Physical Education and Other Physical Activity Programs
- Nutrition Services
- Health Services
- Counseling, Psychological and Social Services
- Health Promotion for Staff
- Family and Community Involvement
Within the eight CSHP components, the SHI covers the following five health topics. Additional health topics will be added in future additions
- Safety
- Physical Activity
- Nutrition
- Tobacco Use
- Asthma
These topics were chosen because these health behaviors can play a critical role in preventing the leading causes of death, disability, hospitalizations, illness, and school absence. CDC has developed guidelines or strategies for schools to address each of them.
Physical inactivity, poor eating habits, and tobacco use are primary causes of the chronic diseases - such as heart disease, cancer, stroke, and diabetes – that are the leading causes of death in our nation. These risk behaviors are typically established during childhood and adolescence, and the physiological processes that lead to chronic diseases can also start in youth. Unfortunately, more children and adolescents are overweight than ever before, and more than one in three high school students currently uses some kind of tobacco product.
Unintentional injuries and violence are the leading causes of death and disability among children, adolescents, and young adults, Major causes of unintentional injuries include more-vehicle crashed, drowning, poisoning, fires and burns, falls, sports – and recreation-related injuries, firearm-related injuries, choking, suffocation, and animal bites. Types of violence are homicide, suicide, assault, sexual violence, rape, child maltreatment, dating and domestic violence, and self-inflicted injuries. Children and adolescents engage in many behaviors that increase their risk of injury. These include not using seat belts, driving after drinking alcohol, carrying weapons, and engaging in physical fights. Safety-related behaviors are those that can help prevent unintentional injuries and violence.
Asthma is the third leading cause of hospitalizations and leading cause of school absences. On average, in a classroom of 30 children, about three are likely to have asthma. The impact of illness and deaths due to asthma is disproportionately higher among low-income populations, minorities, and children in inner cities than in the general population.
How Much Time Will It Take To Complete the SHI?
The assessment process can be completed in as little as five hours. Many of the improvements you will want to make after completing the SHI can be done with existing staff and with few or no new resources. A small investment of time can pay big dividends in students’ improved health, safety, and readiness to learn. For those priority actions that do require new resources, your SHI results can help provide information needed to stimulate school board and community support for school health and safety, and can provide data and justification to support funding requests.
How Does the HFSAS Complete the SHI?
There is no single way to implement the SHI. Schools have developed many approaches, and you need to find the approach that meets your school’s needs. The most essential thing to remember is that completing the SHI should be a group effort. The strength of the process comes from having individuals from different parts of the school community sit down together and plan ways to work toward improving school policies and programs. The connections that develop among SHI participants are among the most important outcomes of the process.
