State of the Data Initiative, Every Student Counts! 2024

Area of Science:

• School Health
• Public Health Data
• Nursing Informatics

Background:

• The National Association of School Nurses (NASN) developed the Every Student Counts! (ESC!) initiative to aggregate school health data.
• Data collection and utilization are crucial for demonstrating the value of school nursing services.
• Previous years have shown the importance of sharing aggregated data to encourage participation and affirm efforts.

Purpose of the Study:

• To report the progress and growth of the NASN's National School Health Data Set (ESC!) during the 2023 to 2024 school year.
• To encourage continued participation and motivate new engagement in the ESC! initiative.
• To provide a platform for sharing aggregated school health data and its impact.

Main Methods:

• Data aggregation from state-level initiatives contributing to the National School Health Data Set (ESC!).
• State Data Coordinators entered data, providing support to school nurses and acting as liaisons to NASN.
• The article serves as a reporting vehicle for the aggregated progress.

Main Results:

• The Every Student Counts! (ESC!) initiative experienced considerable growth in the 2023 to 2024 school year.
• Aggregated data demonstrates the value and encourages the use of school health and school nurse data.
• State Data Coordinators played a key role in data entry and support.

Conclusions:

• The continued growth of the ESC! initiative highlights the increasing importance of standardized school health data.
• Demonstrating the value of collected data affirms current participants and motivates broader engagement.
• Opportunities for non-participating school nurses to engage with the ESC! initiative are available.