PURPOSE & OVERVIEW – SLIDES

Slide 1: Why Use the School Health Index?
Why should you use the School Health Index?

Slide 2: The Situation
We all know that adolescents today face a variety of health issues. We have an opportunity and responsibility as school health advocates to improve the lives of young people.

Prevalence of youth risk behaviors is high, with unfavorable trends.
Promoting health and safety behaviors for youth is a critical public health priority.
Promoting health and safety behaviors for youth is an educational priority.

Slide 3: Opinions from U.S. Adults about School Health Programs
Large percentages of adults in the United States are aware of this situation and understand the key role that schools can play in improving the health of young people.
65% of adults believe schools should play a major role in fighting the obesity problem.

84% of adults strongly support healthier school lunches.
82% of adults strongly support health classes.
76% of adults strongly support more physical education.
42% of adults strongly support prohibiting the sale of unhealthy foods in school vending machines.

Source: Survey by Lake Snell Perry and Associates for Harvard University, based on interviews with a nationally representative sample of 1,002 adults, May-June 2003

Slide 4: Opinions from Parents of Adolescents about Health Education
Policy makers are not likely to support school health programs if they think that parents are not supportive of the programs. So what do parents think?

82%, a tremendous majority, of parents think that health education is equally as or more important than other school subjects.

74% of parents think that schools should spend more time or the same amount of time teaching health education as they do teaching other subjects.

This support from parents is a very important piece of the argument for school health programs.

Source: Gallup Organization for the American Cancer Society, national telephone survey of 1,003 parents of adolescents enrolled in U.S. public schools, 1993.

Slide 5: Opinions from Parents of Children in K-12 about Physical Education
Contrary to what many policy makers might believe, 81% of parents, which is a large majority, want their children to receive daily physical education.

Only 15% of parents believe that physical activity should be left for after school and that schools should focus on academic subjects only.

Source: Survey by Opinion Research Corp. based on interviews with a nationally representative sample of 1,017 adults, February 2000 (margin of error = +6%)

Slide 6: How School Health Programs Benefit Businesses
We have seen that parents and other adults in this country understand the importance of school health programs, but how will these programs affect other aspects of our society? What is one of the primary missions of schools? To produce productive members of society. Businesses need schools to produce a capable workforce. Let’s look at how school health programs benefit businesses.

In the immediate future, school health programs will benefit the health of their employees’ children, leading to lower absenteeism and stress; in other words, greater productivity. In the future, school health programs will help produce a healthy and productive workforce, which will lower health care costs.

Slide 7: School Health Programs
Promoting healthy behaviors and creating a healthy environment is an important part of the fundamental mission of schools: to help young people acquire the knowledge and skills to become productive and healthy adults. By promoting health and safety behaviors, schools can increase students’ capacity to learn, reduce absences, and improve physical fitness and mental alertness.

The SHI offers a team approach to improving school health and safety policies and programs. It is a simple, straightforward tool that gives administrators, staff, parents, and students a chance to get involved and work together to create a healthier school.

So the question is not, “why should you use the SHI?” but rather, “why would you not use the SHI?”