Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health, (
J Sch Health. 2014 Jan;84(1):40-8. doi: 10.1111/josh.12117.
The Institute of Medicine (2012) concluded that we must "strengthen schools as the heart of health." To intervene for better outcomes in both health and academic achievement, identifying factors that impact children is essential. Study objectives are to (1) document associations between health assets and academic achievement, and (2) examine cumulative effects of these assets on academic achievement.
Participants include 940 students (grades 5 and 6) from 12 schools randomly selected from an urban district. Data include physical assessments, fitness testing, surveys, and district records. Fourteen health indicators were gathered including physical health (eg, body mass index [BMI]), health behaviors (eg, meeting recommendations for fruit/vegetable consumption), family environment (eg, family meals), and psychological well-being (eg, sleep quality). Data were collected 3-6 months prior to standardized testing.
On average, students reported 7.1 health assets out of 14. Those with more health assets were more likely to be at goal for standardized tests (reading/writing/mathematics), and students with the most health assets were 2.2 times more likely to achieve goal compared with students with the fewest health assets (both p < .001).
Schools that utilize nontraditional instructional strategies to improve student health may also improve academic achievement, closing equity gaps in both health and academic achievement.
美国医学研究所（2012 年）得出结论，我们必须“加强学校作为健康中心的地位”。为了在健康和学业成绩两方面都取得更好的结果，确定影响儿童的因素至关重要。研究目的是：（1）记录健康资产与学业成绩之间的关联；（2）检验这些资产对学业成绩的累积影响。
参与者包括来自市区 12 所随机抽取的 940 名 5 年级和 6 年级学生。数据包括身体评估、体能测试、调查和地区记录。共收集了 14 项健康指标，包括身体健康（如体重指数[BMI]）、健康行为（如达到水果/蔬菜消费建议）、家庭环境（如家庭用餐）和心理健康（如睡眠质量）。数据是在标准化考试前 3-6 个月收集的。
平均而言，学生报告了 14 项健康资产中的 7.1 项。拥有更多健康资产的学生更有可能达到标准化测试的目标（阅读/写作/数学），拥有最多健康资产的学生达到目标的可能性是拥有最少健康资产的学生的 2.2 倍（均<.001）。
利用非传统教学策略来改善学生健康的学校也可能提高学业成绩，缩小健康和学业成绩方面的公平差距。
