Supporting the Whole Child Through Coordinated Policies, Processes, and Practices

BACKGROUND: The Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) model provides a framework for promoting greater alignment, integration, and collaboration between health and education across the school setting and improving students' cognitive, physical, social, and emotional development. By providing a learning environment that ensures each student is emotionally and physically healthy, safe, actively engaged, supported, and challenged, the WSCC model presents a framework for school systems to evaluate, streamline, implement, and sustain policies, processes, and practices. METHODS: This article examines the essential roles of the school district and of schools in aligning, developing, and implementing policy, processes, and practices to create optimal learning environments that support the whole child. RESULTS: Three key factors advance efforts to align policies, processes, and practices. These include hiring a coordinator at the district and school levels, having collaborative teams address health and learning at the district and school levels, and using data to make decisions and build health outcomes into school and district accountability systems. CONCLUSIONS: These key factors provide a road map for successfully implementing WSCC. More research is needed to determine the extent that coordinators, collaborative teams, and the inclusion of health indicators in accountability systems impact student health and learning.