Whole School, Whole Child, Whole Community

When school districts invest in the health of their students, they contribute to future, vibrant communities.

Healthy students are better learners. A student experiencing hunger, vision or hearing loss, or severe asthma will not perform well in school. As we work together across sectors to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, the link between health and schools has grown even closer as we grapple with how to keep students, staff, families, and communities healthy, safe, fed, and in good spirits.

Coordinated School Health invests in the Whole Child; establishing healthy behaviors during childhood is easier and more effective than trying to change unhealthy behaviors in adulthood. Schools play a critical role in promoting the health and safety of youth and helping them establish lifelong healthy behavior patterns, facilitating academic success.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) expanded on CSH and developed the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) model in collaboration with key leaders from the fields of health, public health, education, and school health.