Applying the School Health Index to a nationally representative sample of schools: update for 2006

The School Health Index (SHI) is a tool designed to help schools assess the extent to which they are implementing practices included in the research-based guidelines and strategies for school health and safety programs developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). CDC previously analyzed data from the 2000 School Health Policies and Programs Study (SHPPS) to determine the percentage of US schools meeting the recommendations in the SHI. A new edition of the SHI (2005) and the availability of 2006 SHPPS data made it necessary to update and repeat the analysis.

SHPPS 2006 data were collected through computer-assisted personal interviews with faculty and staff in a nationally representative sample of schools. The data were then matched to SHI items to calculate the percentage of schools meeting the recommendations in 4 areas: school health and safety policies and environment, health education, physical education and other physical activity programs, and nutrition services.

In accordance with the earlier findings, the present analysis indicated that schools nationwide were focusing their efforts on a few policies and programs rather than addressing the entire set of recommendations in the SHI. The percentage of items related to nutrition that schools met remained high, and an increase occurred in the percentage of items that schools met related to school health and safety policies and environment.

More work needs to be done to assist schools in implementing school health policies and practices; this analysis helps identify specific areas where improvement is needed.