Recent reports on youth sport participation continue to show alarming trends. Participation rates have been declining, particularly among children between the ages of six and 12 years old. According to the Aspen Institute's Project Play (2016) initiative, fewer young people are participating in organized team sports today than they were in 2008.…

The Healthy Schools Campaign (HSC) has worked at the intersection of education and health for the last 15 years, supporting schools, districts, states and national stakeholders as they work to create healthy schools where children can learn and thrive. In the fall of 2017 the Healthy Schools Campaign engaged RESOLVE, a D.C.-based nonprofit…

Given the societal expectation of high ethical standards for teachers, best practice suggests that teacher preparation programs employ real-world case scenarios in their ethics education. However, at present, the field lacks a thorough account of modern ethics code violations in the teaching profession from which preparation programs might draw…

This report provides the results of a national scan of measures being used by early childhood systems and initiatives to gauge the well-being of young children and their families. The purpose of the project was to better understand the state of the field and to identify opportunities to drive improvements in measurement that could help contribute…

Background: From 5 to 7.5 million schoolchildren are chronically absent, defined as missing =15 days of school within a year. Students miss schools due to various reasons such as health, socioeconomic status, and environmental factors. We examined child's health and behavior, family structure, and sociodemographics to understand chronic…

This booklet has been developed in hopes that it may aid in keeping communication open and focused between families and schools. Building communication between parents and the school staff through letters offers a way of keeping records of ideas, concerns, and suggestions. This booklet provides general guidelines to writing letters as well as…

School nurses are challenged with more children having complex conditions, who are now surviving into school age. This is paralleled by a shift in focus of health systems toward primary care, and national efforts to develop the health-care services, especially those offered to vulnerable populations. Being at the forefront of this change, school…

This article explores the many ways in which states can and are addressing racial equity in problem solving and policymaking. The authors explore national data that make the case for addressing bias and advancing equity in state policy; share strategies and best practices for engaging families and communities; and provide examples of policies that…

California's longstanding efforts to promote child development and kindergarten readiness have paved the way for focusing greater attention on the role Medi-Cal, the State's Medicaid program, can play in realizing the full strength of these initiatives. As a state with a large and diverse population, California's reach and potential influence are…

The COVID-19 pandemic has raised huge concerns for the mental health of an entire generation of children. But the pandemic may represent only the tip of a mental health iceberg -- an iceberg we have ignored for far too long. For the first time, "The State of the World's Children" examines the mental health of children and adolescents.…

Background: Despite the federal initiatives on equitable provision of school nutrition programs, geographic disparity in childhood obesity persists. It may be partly because built-in school nutrition environments rely on each school's efficient use of existing operational funds or its ability to obtain expanded financial support. This study…

Body mass index classification, physical activity (PA), and sedentary behaviors were compared in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to typically developing adolescents. Participants included 42,747 adolescents (ASD, n = 915) from the 2011-2012 National Survey of Children's Health. After controlling for covariates, adolescents were…

Background: Insufficient sleep in adolescents has been shown to be associated with a wide variety of adverse outcomes, from poor mental and physical health to behavioral problems and lower academic grades. However, most high school students do not get sufficient sleep. Delaying school start times for adolescents has been proposed as a policy…

Background: Schools are a key setting for childhood obesity interventions, yet nurses are not often included in delivering these interventions. The objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to examine school-based interventions involving nurses in a role beyond anthropometric measurement for effect on change in body measures.…

Purposes/Objectives: Fruit and vegetable (F/V) consumption may aid in childhood obesity prevention. F/V consumption in youth is low. School-based salad bars (SBs) may improve F/V access in youth. The purpose of this study was to explore administrative and school nutrition personnel perspectives related to adoption and continued implementation of…