Momentum is building through For the Sake of All, a Washington University initiative, to boost academic outcomes in the St. Louis Public School district and the Normandy Schools Collaborative using a healthy schools model. The idea is that students will perform better if they can be relieved of the stress and distractions of poor health, hunger and personal security concerns.
The model, developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, promotes comprehensive and integrated health-related programming in schools and communities. Experts say this could be the way to close the education gap between students in high-need school districts and those in more stable ones.
The Washington University project recently received a $1.1 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to fund the work locally. For the Sake of All began as a collaborative effort that included St. Louis University, among other partners. Armed with medical and scientific data showing it is easier and more effective to establish healthy behaviors in children than to change unhealthy behaviors in adults, education experts are working with schools to help students establish lifelong healthy behavior patterns.
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Long gone are the days when school was simply a place to learn reading, writing and arithmetic. Regions that thrive economically are ones that offer educational opportunities and support systems that advance the learning environment, including outside the classroom. Urban public schools are where such emphasis is most in need because they’re the places where poverty, health issues and educational struggles most often intersect.
Researchers say that educational attainment is among the greatest predictors of health outcomes and life expectancy. Poor health serves as a roadblock to education, and low educational attainment increases the likelihood of a life in poverty and poor health. It’s a vicious cycle that, in this region, most often afflicts the African-American community, according to a For the Sake of All report.
In the mid-1990s, state lawmakers began shrinking the state’s revenue contribution and attacking the city’s school funding. Unstable schools and under-prepared students resulted from years of chaos and economic uncertainty.
That’s where Jason Purnell, director of For the Sake of All, says his initiative can make a difference. “Kids who can’t see, can’t hear, can’t breathe, haven’t slept, been traumatized and don’t know where they’re going back home at night don’t have the opportunity to learn. None of us would,” Purnell says.
His organization is developing tools to assess programs and replace duplicative or ineffective strategies with proven plans that create environments where students feel safe and emotionally secure. The project will study entire school communities, including teachers, students, coaches and cafeteria workers, and involve social workers and medical experts.
Public education is too often a political battlefield where children’s basic needs are forgotten. For the Sake of All puts the emphasis back where it belongs.