The passage of Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) presents a tremendous opportunity to integrate health and wellness into education policy and practice. To assess the health and wellness outcomes of ESSA, the Health Impact Project conducted a Health Impact Assessment (HIA) focused on school-level needs assessments under Title I. The HIA found that based on the proposed regulations, the needs assessments are unlikely to identify and address underlying health factors affecting education outcomes. However, data suggest that many schools are already considering some health-related data, and some schools and districts have expressed interest in adding health indicators, providing an opportunity to build on this important work during ESSA implementation. As states are currently drafting their state implementation ESSA plans for Spring 2017, this is a critical opportunity for states to support the whole child and the address the importance of school health and wellness. Furthermore, to address the social and economic factors that affect student achievement, stakeholders from multiple sectors must be involved early in the needs assessment process to be included in a meaningful way.

Please join us for our upcoming Dialogue4Health Web Forum where we will discuss the Health Impact Project’s findings and recommendations. We will also highlight how some states are incorporating health data in their needs assessments or health measures in their accountability/report cards. Speakers will also take participant questions.