TTHS | Parents for Healthy Schools

Scenario

You are a member of the School Health Team for Jefferson School. The School Health Team meets monthly to discuss increasing parent engagement at Jefferson School to create a healthy school environment in the areas of:

School nutrition environment and services
Physical education and physical activity
Managing chronic health conditions in schools

The School Health Team recently completed the CDC School Health Index to identify strengths and weaknesses in Jefferson School’s current policies and practices and to identify where improvements can be made to maximize parent engagement. In today’s meeting, the School Health Team plans to review the parent engagement framework to develop plans to connect, engage, and sustain parent engagement.
Read the following statements to select the most appropriate response.

Quiz

School Health Team members understand research shows that parent engagement makes it more likely that children and adolescents will avoid unhealthy behaviors and has a correlation to:

Better student behavior

Higher academic achievement

Enhanced social skills

All of the above

During today’s meeting, the School Health Team brainstormed ideas on how to connect with parents by creating an environment that welcomes and encourages parents to participate in school activities for nutrition, physical activity, and chronic health conditions. The list of ideas included

Providing statistics on attendance, grade averages, and disciplinary actions at Jefferson School

Requiring parent commitment to participate in school activities for nutrition, physical activity, and chronic health conditions

Ensuring Jefferson School has clearly written vision and mission statements that include language that supports parent participation in school activities and sharing of expertise

Making unannounced visits to parents in their home environments to talk about the school’s need for volunteers

Next, the School Health Team brainstormed opportunities for parents to engage in school health activities, based on six types of involvement that schools can use. Today’s focus was on providing parenting support, supporting learning at home, and collaborating with the community. The list of ideas included:

Providing classes and workshops to build parents’ leadership, decision making, and parenting skills; engaging parents in homework assignments or other health activities; coordinating with community organizations to make it easier for parents to obtain information

Sending communications to parents; inviting parents to volunteer in school activities; including parents in advocacy activities

Increasing communication channels between parents and teachers, administrators, counselors, and other staff

Encouraging parents to join the PTA/PTO, School Health Team or team, or school committees

Using the Ideas for Parents, the School Health Team focused on ways to engage parents in Jefferson School’s nutrition environment and services. The team plans to share these ideas at the next meeting with parents to encourage:

Serving as monitors or chaperones on class field trips

Enrolling their children in the school meals program

Ensuring appropriate vaccination status

All of the above

Using the Ideas for Parents, the School Health Team focused on ways to engage parents in physical education and physical activity at Jefferson School. The team plans to share these ideas at the next meeting with parents to encourage:

Asking about exercises and physical activities to do at home with their children

Volunteering their time to help with physical education, recess, and classroom physical activity

Participating on the team or committee for comprehensive school physical activity programs

All of the above

Using the Ideas for Parents, the School Health Team focused on ways to engage parents in managing chronic health conditions in schools. The team plans to share these ideas at the next meeting with parents to encourage:

Selection of healthy food and beverage choices during the school day and during school events

Participation in the recommended 60 minutes of daily physical activity for their children

Awareness of available school health services and how such services can benefit their children

None of the above

Thinking ahead, team members know that keeping parents engaged may be difficult as their children grow into adolescence. The School Health Team identified common challenges to sustain parent engagement so they could make plans to overcome these challenges. The list included:

Schedule conflicts; transportation issues; discomfort at school events; language barriers; lack of staff training; and lack of financial support

Competing interests of parents to engage in other activities they prefer over interest in their children’s school health

High staff turnover in the school district

Competing interest of parents and high staff turnover

CHAPTERS

Introduction

Healthy School Environments

Engaging Parents to Support Healthy School Environments

Take Action

Knowledge Check

Scenario

Quiz

GO FURTHER

Download Course
[PDF - 902 KB]

CHAPTERS

Introduction

Healthy School Environments

Engaging Parents to Support Healthy School Environments

Take Action

Knowledge Check

Scenario

Quiz

GO FURTHER

Download Course[PDF - 902 KB]

Download Course
[PDF - 902 KB]