‘Critical Connection’ studied between learning, health
Published: December 1, 2009
As part of the launch of a 10-year, $700,000 effort, a consortium of foundations and policy and advocacy organizations has released a new policy brief aimed at helping schools and policymakers improve students’ health in order to boost their academic achievement.
“The Critical Connection Between Student Health and Academic Achievement: How Schools and Policymakers Can Achieve a Positive Impact” is the first in a series of reports due to be released over the next decade by the California Education Supports Project, a new initiative of the California Endowment and the James Irvine and William and Flora Hewlett foundations.
The report, by the WestEd policy group and Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of California, San Francisco, was released at a special public hearing convened in Los Angeles by the state Assembly Select Committee on Schools and Community last month to introduce the new philanthropic project and hear testimony about the connection between students’ health and their academic progress.
The report’s authors said they hoped their work would serve as a starting point in an ongoing discussion of the ways students’ health can impact their educational achievement and would “spur discussion, additional research and more work on how to meet the physical, mental and social needs of our students in ways that will help them achieve better academic outcomes.”
Martin Gonzalez, CSBA deputy director, financial programs and policy services, will advise project funders on overall policy direction and future reports.
Gonzalez said the project will complement CSBA’s ongoing efforts to underscore the link between health and academic achievement as well to provide districts and school boards with the knowledge, resources and tools to support a healthier school environment.
“This research project is both timely and relevant,” he said. “I am optimistic it will help us zero in on solutions to some of our most perplexing barriers to student learning and achievement. If we can improve the health of students, we just may be able to tackle some of the root causes of the achievement gap.”
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