This course examines the relationship between children's health and their K-12 school experience. The eight components of the CDC's Division of Adolescent and School Health (DASH) coordinated school health program model is the organizing framework. Topics include history and development of school health, relationship of in-school interventions to students' health, health care access and academic outcomes, school health policy and politics, and the impact of school context on research methodology and findings.
The course uses a combination of lecture, discussion, and school site visits to help students apply the fundamental concepts of school health to multiple public health and education system issues. Students connect course material to current events through discussion of newspaper articles.