# Presentation: 518851

## Tools for Schools

**Notes:**
The Resources section located in the back of the SHI contains a wealth of tools that school health teams can use to help implement their SHI action plans.

I’d like to highlight just a few of these important resources.  There are many others like these in the Resources section of the SHI, so this is meant to serve only as a sampling. 

## School Health Councils

- www.schoolhealth.info

- http://www.idph.state.ia.us/hpcdp/common/pdf/family_health/Covers.pdf

**Notes:**
Two important resources to help in developing school health councils or school health teams are Improving School Health:  A Guide to School Health Councils and Promoting Healthy Youth, Schools, and Communities, both by the American Cancer Society.  Both publications provide guidance on involving the school and local communities to improve school health.

## School Policies

- http://www.nasbe.org/HealthySchools/fithealthy.html

**Notes:**
To develop school policies, schools can use the publication Fit, Healthy, and Ready to Learn: A School Policy Guide by the National Association of State Boards of Education, which provides model school policies to implement CDC guidelines on physical activity, nutrition, tobacco-use prevention, and asthma.  A chapter on unintentional injury and violence prevention is under development.  The guide offers direction on developing a school healthy policy framework.  It also supplies background information on how to influence the educational policy-making process and presents data to help make the case for these policies. 

## Local Wellness Policies

- http://www.fns.usda.gov/tn/Healthy/wellnesspolicy.html

- http://www.actionforhealthykids.org/devel/resources_wp.php

**Notes:**
The Child Nutrition and Women Infants and Children (WIC) Reauthorization Act of 2004 requires by law that all local education agencies participating in the National School Lunch Program create local wellness policies no later than June 2006. In response to this mandate, both federal and non-federal agencies have responded with tools and resources for schools to assist with developing local wellness policies.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Team Nutrition is an initiative designed to help schools successfully implement dietary guidelines policies.  They have created a clearinghouse that contains reference materials to assist school districts with developing local wellness policies for physical activity and nutrition, tools and resources for implementation, and unreviewed sample policies.

The Action for Healthy Kids Wellness Policy Tool is a searchable database that helps school districts identify policy options and write their own policies. Users can adapt or copy sample language from unreviewed policies gathered from across the country.

## Quality Health Education

- http://www.ashaweb.org/ (click on “bookstore”)

**Notes:**
Here is another publication to help improve schools’ health education programs.  This 80-page publication is a complete guide to the National Health Education Standards developed by parents, community members, and professionals in health and education to serve as a framework for "world class" health education in the United States. The Standards provide guidelines for schools to create an instructional program that will enable their students to become healthy and capable of academic success. 

## Physical Education

**Physical **
**Education **
**Curriculum **
**Analysis**
**Tool**
*To be published by CDC in 2006*

- http://www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/

**Notes:**
There are a number of resources to help improve school policies and programs related to physical education.  In 2006, CDC released the Physical Education Curriculum Analysis Tool (PECAT) to enable users to analyze curricula based on the extent to which the curricula align with national standards, guidelines, and best practices for quality physical education programs.

## Nutrition

- www.fns.usda.gov/tn/Resources/changing.html

**Notes:**
There are also a number of tools to improve nutrition policies and programs.  The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Team Nutrition has developed a kit entitled Changing the Scene: A Guide to Local Action that helps key stakeholders work together to support changes in the school nutrition environment.

## Nutrition

- Strategies
- Establish nutrition standards
- Influence food and beverage contracts
- Make more healthful foods and beverages available
- Adopt marketing techniques to promote healthful choices
- Limit student access to competitive foods
- Use fundraising activities and rewards that support student health

- http://www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/nutrition/Making-It-Happen/

**Notes:**
CDC, in partnership with the USDA, has released Making it Happen:  School Nutrition Success Stories, which provides examples and success stories of 32 schools and school districts that have implemented innovative approaches to promote healthy eating in schools.  The publication highlights six key strategies that are being used to improve the school nutrition environment.  One of the key lessons learned from these stories is that students will buy healthful foods and beverages and that schools can make money from selling healthier options.

## Tobacco-Free Schools

- www.cdc.gov/tobacco/bestprac.htm

**Notes:**
The Office on Smoking and Health (OSH) at CDC has produced several tools that will be helpful to schools and others.  The first is Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs, which is an evidence-based guide to help states plan and establish effective tobacco control programs.  Working with schools is included as one of the key components of an effective state program. 

## Tobacco-Free Schools

- http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/ETS_Toolkit/index.htm

**Notes:**
The Office on Smoking and Health also has an online toolkit: Taking Action Against Secondhand Smoke. This toolkit is designed to provide communities with tools to reduce secondhand smoke in work and other public places. It includes action steps for successfully implementing a clean indoor air policy, materials that can be reproduced for local campaigns, and an extensive resources section for more information.  Currently it discusses settings such as the home, public places, and worksites.  This toolkit will soon include a section on schools.

## Unintentional Injury and Violence

- www.cdc.gov/ncipc/dvp/bestpractices.htm

- http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/325.pdf

**Notes:**
CDC’s Best Practices of Youth Violence Prevention:  A Sourcebook for Community Action looks at the effectiveness of four types of violence prevention strategies: parent- and family-based, home visiting, social-cognitive, and mentoring. The sourcebook documents the science behind each best practice and offers a comprehensive directory of resources for more information about programs that have used these practices. 

The Handbook for Public Playground Safety, developed by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, presents safety guidelines and information to promote greater safety awareness among those who purchase, install, and maintain public playground equipment in schools and communities. 

## Tools for Schools

*See SHI Resources section for more!!!*

**Notes:**
The materials that I have just described are only samples of some of the tools that can be used when trying to improve school health policies and programs.  For more tools, see the SHI Resources section.