Research Review: School-based Health Interventions and Academic Achievement provides important new evidence that links students’ health and academic performance. It identifies proven health interventions and practical resources that can positively affect both student health and academic achievement.Health and Education Are Linked. For students in middle and high school, health risks and academic risks affect each other. Students who do poorly in school may have more health risks, which adversely affect their achievement and in turn contribute to health risks. Data from the Healthy Youth Survey in Washington State provide a new way of looking at the relationship between health risk and academic achievement. The report examines 13 key physical and mental health risk factors and analyzes the relationship between these specific health factors and the grades students report getting in school.Every Health Risk Can Affect Academic Success. The more health risks students have, the less likely they will succeed in school or graduate on time. Each health risk that can be removed has the potential to positively influence academic behaviors. Improvement of even a single health factor may help improve academic achievement.Interventions Can Narrow Disparities. Lack of equal chances for success—the result of poverty, discrimination, unequal access to services, and other factors—affects a person’s health. These patterns of socioeconomic disparities are often the same for disparities in academic achievement. It may be unrealistic to expect to close the achievement gap for disadvantaged youth without addressing wellness, readiness to learn, and the conditions affecting the health of the community.Health Interventions Can Improve Learning and Health. There are many proven interventions that have a positive impact on students’ health and academic achievement. This report examines how delivering supportive health policies, instruction, and services comprehensively may be more effective than offering single health interventions. School leaders are offered six key ingredients for success that are supported by research and are consistent with the Coordinated School Health approach from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).The findings of this report suggest that implementing proven school-based health interventions is an opportunity to improve students’ academic achievement, well-being, and quality of life.
