Children’s Health Insurance

Statistics and research demonstrating
the link between health and academic success
are
summarized here, along with links to related
resources and bibliographies. These resources
are arranged by health issue as well as by
components of Coordinated School Health Programs.

Physical
Activity & Nutrition

Fast Facts:
Schools that offer breakfast programs experience
improvements in school grades, attendance,
and participation. (1) Additionally,
schools that offer intense physical activity
programs have shown positive effects on academic
achievement: increased concentration, improved
mathematics, reading, and writing test scores,
and reduced disruptive behavior- even when
the physical education reduces the time for
academics.(2)

Fast Facts:
Research indicates that among the 20 percent
of school age children who have a learning
disability in reading, 70 percent of them
have some form of visual impairment, such
as ocular motor, perceptual or binocular
dysfunction, that may be interfering with
their reading skills.(3)

Related
Research & Resources:

Substance Use

Fast Facts:
Adolescents who use drugs have been found to
have: reduced attention spans, lower investment
in homework, lower grades, more negative
attitudes toward school, increased absenteeism,
and higher dropout rates. When controlling
for socioeconomic status and personality
variables, drug use may also directly
predict dropping out of school.(4) Additionally,
five years after being taught a substance
use
prevention curriculum, students had higher
overall academic achievement scores than
their peers.(5)

Related
Research & Resources:

Mental Health

Fast Facts:
One in five children have a diagnosable mental,
emotional or behavioral disorder. And up
to one in 10 may suffer from a serious emotional
disturbance . Fifty percent of youth with
emotional disturbances drop out of high school
compared to thirty percent of all students
with other types of disabilities. Children
who witness chronic violence have been found
to exhibit poor concentration, shorter attention
spans, and experience a general decline in
academic performance.(6)
School-based mental health services have been
linked to a decrease in course failures, absences,
and disciplinary referrals, as well as an increase
in grade point averages.(8)

Related
Research & Resources:

Sexual & Reproductive
Health

Fast Facts:
Childbirth during the high school years is
associated with significantly reduced academic
achievement for the mother and her child.(7)

Related
Research & Resources:

Oral Health

Fast Facts:
Dental health problems are the most prevalent
chronic disease of early childhood and a
major cause of school absenteeism . More
than 51 million school hours are lost each
year to dental-related illness. Oral problems
can impact self-esteem for children and lead
to problems eating, speaking and attending
to learning.

Related
Research & Resources:

School-Based Health Services

Fast Facts:
Under Construction

Related
Research & Resources:

School Environment

Fast Facts:
Evidence continues to emerge showing that poor
indoor air quality (IAQ) can cause illness
requiring absence from school, and can cause
acute health symptoms that decrease performance
while at school. In addition, recent data
suggest that poor IAQ may directly reduce
a person’s ability to perform specific
mental tasks requiring concentration, calculation,
or memory. In fact, asthma-related illness
is one of the leading causes of school absenteeism,
accounting for over 14 million missed school
days per year.(9)

Related
Research & Resources:

School Employee Health Promotion

Fast Facts:
Students benefit from having healthy teachers
because teachers are more energetic, absent
less often and the school climate is more
optimistic.(10)

Parent & Community
Involvement