NSBA School Health Leaders Cadre

NSBA School Health Leaders are individual board members and superintendents who are committed to

• promoting effective policies, programs, and practices to enhance the physical, emotional, and social health of students and staff in their school districts; and 
• communicating the value of school health programs to other education leaders.

NSBA and its partner state school boards associations provide resources, coordination, and other assistance to School Health Leaders.

Click here to learn more about the program and how you can become a School Health Leader.

Log-in to the School Health Leaders NSBAConnect e-group. 


Leadership Tools

Background and rationale

• The Healthy Approach (Amy Joyner, American School Board Journal, 2007). This article provides general background on the theory and evolution of CDC’s coordinated school health model. 
• Education Reform and the Goals of Modern School Health Programs (Lloyd Kolbe, State Education Standard, 2002). An essay penned by the founding director of CDC’s Division of Adolescent and School Health connects the dots between education and health goals.
• Healthier Students Are Better Learners: A Missing Link in School Reforms to Close the Achievement Gap (Charles Basch, Journal of School Health, 2011). Dr. Basch of Teachers College at Columbia University focuses on seven educationally relevant health disparities that disproportionately affect urban minority youth from low-income families. 
• The Association Between School-Based Physical Activity, Including Physical Education, and Academic Performance (CDC, 2010). This report highlights recent research studies showing how physical activity is related to academic performance. 
• The Coordinated School Health website of CDC bring together additional information on rationale and goals, summarizes key statistics and research findings; provides a model framework for planning and implementing coordinated school health, and offers resources to help schools, districts, and states improve their school health programs. 

Policy and program guidance 

• What School Boards Can Do to Enhance Student Health and Learning (NSBA, 2010). This document suggests specific, concrete actions school boards can take to support a coordinated approach to health in line with the school board leadership concepts presented in NSBA’s Key Work of School Boards.
• The School Health Index: A Self-Assessment and Planning Tool (CDC, periodically updated) is an evidence-based discussion guide that serves as an effective program evaluation and planning tool. Easy to use by a school or district-level committee, it has been proven to be enormously helpful in the field.
• A CDC Review of School Laws and Policies Concerning Child and Adolescent Health (CDC, Journal of School Health, 2008). This report provides an overview of the legal and policy landscape of school health, and is intended to encourage readers to consider the potential for law and policy to contribute to students’ health and safety.
• Preventing Childhood Obesity: A School Health Policy Guide (Colin Pekruhn, National Association of State Boards of Education, 2009). This publication summarizes the policy guidance regarding healthy eating and physical activity contained in NASBE’s more comprehensive Fit, Healthy, and Ready to Learn: A School Health Policy Guide.
• Guidelines for a Coordinated School Approach to School Health: Addressing the Physical, Social, and Emotional Health Needs of the School Community (Connecticut State Department of Education, 2007). These guidelines are intended to assist local and regional boards of education with developing plans to: engage students in physical activities; formulate strategies to coordinate health education, programs and services; and establish procedures for assessing the need for related community-based services.
• State Health Policy Options (National Governors Association, 2012) is a virtual resource center containing policies, case studies, expert sources and information on federal efforts. The database is searchable by topic, resource type, state, and key words and contains an array of resources on school health policies.