Sound in body, sound in mind—so goes the saying. Educators and policymakers are emphasizing the importance of physical and mental health to academic success—and acknowledging that a comfortable social climate and a safe environment at school are prerequisites for learning.
Healthy Bodies
Consider these statistics: Among high school students, 20 percent carried a weapon in the last 30 days; 35 percent smoke cigarettes; 24 percent considered suicide in the last year; and 75 percent do not go to physical education class daily. At www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dash, the Centers for Disease Control, Division of Adolescent and School Health offers resources for coping with such problems: school health guidelines, CDC's model of a coordinated school health program, and documents about child and adolescent health, such as Guidelines for School Health Programs to Promote Lifelong Healthy Eating and Guidelines for Effective School Health Education to Prevent the Spread of AIDS. The site also details funding opportunities.
Counselors, educators, parents, and teens will welcome the American Medical Association's Adolescent Health Online site (www.ama-assn.org/adolhlth/adolhlth.htm) with sections on physical, mental, and social health issues that affect adolescents. Parents and adolescents can search for information on specific issues or peruse Special Topics, which include adolescents and violence, nutrition, tobacco use, teen pregnancy and prevention, physical fitness, and injury prevention. You'll also find frequently asked questions, contact information for national hotlines and information centers, Guidelines for Adolescent Preventive Services (GAPS), and Adolescent Health Resources and Links.
How can you ensure that your students attend a safe school? Find out at www.schoolcounselor.org by the American School Counselor Association. Link to safe school sites, look at violence prevention resources, and learn about safe-school conferences. You'll also find the national standards for school counseling programs and a listserv for schools implementing the standards.
From the American School Health Association (www.ashaweb.org), order publications about school nurse and health services, education and health, HIV/AIDS, and special issues of the Journal of School Health. Among the publications are a guide to coordinated school health programs, an advocacy kit for reducing pregnancy and the spread of HIV, and Healthy Students 2000: An Agenda for Continuous Improvement in America's Schools.
In February 2000, ASCD and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation announced the recipients of 10 renewable $20,000 grants to schools to pursue school health programs. These and other schools will benefit from publications and services to promote awareness of public health issues among middle and high school students. See the winners at the Web site of the ASCD Health in Education Initiative, www.ascd.org/health_in_education.
Healthy Minds
Need a lesson plan for 8th graders to explore the topic of eating disorders? The National Mental Health and Education Center for Children and Families, a service of the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP), offers a Gateway of Educational Materials for grades pre-K to12 at www.naspweb .org/center/index.html. Explore Safe School Resources; read about Hot Topics, such as How to Deal with Bullying; or follow a link to the International Association of Chiefs of Police site for the Guide for Preventing and Responding to School Violence. Families will welcome Teen Voices, "a magazine for and about teenage and young adult women," and ¿Qué Es Un Psicólogo Escolar? Información Para Padres, which introduces Spanish-speaking parents to the role of a school psychologist.
The UCLA Center for Mental Health in Schools site (http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu) offers a broad range of online packets for exploring such practical topics as Welcoming and Involving New Students and Families, School Interventions to Prevent Youth Suicide, and Responding to a Crisis at School. You'll also find such guidebooks as Mental Health and School-Based Health Centers, special reports, newsletter articles, and clearinghouse catalogs. Take a class online, such as "Mental Health in Schools: New Roles for School Nurses," with the site's continuing education modules, designed for self-study or workshop use. Don't leave without subscribing to the Center's free newsletter or looking at the online bulletin board.
Healthy Buildings
"While we all support higher standards for education, many in the public sector still ask . . . Do the facilities in which our children learn really matter?" At the site of the Council of Educational Facility Planners, International (CEFPI ), The School Building Association, a new research project, Where Children Learn, probes how school facilities affect student achievement and behavior. At www.cefpi.com, you'll find searchable journal articles; a directory for districts seeking assistance in educational facility work; and CEFPI publications, including IssueTraks on such specialized topics as Gross Square Feet per Student.
