Much attention has been focused on the importance of providing physical and mental health services to students in educational environments in recent years. Millions of students receive school-based health services, and for many students, schools are their first and only option to receive health care. State policymakers have a lot to consider in…

Coordinated School Health (CSH) is a framework for addressing health in schools, connects health with learning, and improves students' health and capacity to learn through the support of schools, families, and communities working together. This model encourages healthy lifestyles, provides needed support to students, and helps to reduce the…

When individuals are exposed an adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), they can be impacted in a variety of ways including health risks, threats to safety, and community-level adverse experiences. The authors have combed recent research to explore what new evidence is available in understanding the nature of adversity that children face and the…

Innovation in education is vital for responding to emerging challenges, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and for building progress on longstanding challenges in schools. The infusion of substantial, highly flexible pots of federal relief dollars created an opportunity to pilot new programs and initiatives. Many states and districts opted to invest…

This article describes some of the extraordinary accomplishments of the second cohort of states to participate in the Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Financing Policy Project (IECMH-FPP). The purpose of the IECMHFPP is to support states' advancement of IECMH assessment, diagnosis, and treatment policies that will contribute to the healthy…

Government officials are taking swift public health actions to slow the rapidly spreading COVID-19 pandemic. By the end of March, statewide school closures affected 55.1 million K-12 public school students across the country. While school closures affect all students, students from underserved communities feel this impact even greater. Data on…

The close connections between industry and academe, in which students simultaneously train and study, are gaining ground in the United States. Inspired by Germany's model, states are encouraging community colleges and manufacturers to work together on training programs. This offers a possible solution to a problem that continues to vex the United…

The new Perkins provides more flexibility to encourage innovation and program improvement; one of these areas of flexibility is the state-level "reserve" fund. This article looks at how Tennessee is using its funds to improve programming within the framework set out in the law.

Implementation of patient safety initiatives can be costly in time and energy. Because of small volumes and limited resources, rural hospitals often are not included in nationally driven patient safety initiatives. This article describes the Tennessee Rural Hospital Patient Safety Demonstration project, whose goal was to strengthen capacity for…

Nonprofit family-run organizations, such as Tennessee Voices for Children (TVC), are providing leadership in advocating for and delivering services to children and families in need. Utilizing a family-driven approach and a staff partially comprised of parent-professionals, TVC's Nashville Connection and Family Connection programs have strengthened…

"Data Trends" reports present summaries of research on mental health services for children and adolescents and their families. The article summarized in this "Data Trends" describes how an organizational and community intervention model (ARC: Availability, Responsiveness, Continuity) can be used in conjunction with the…

Describes one researcher's experiences as she interviewed rural families during a comprehensive survey of Johnson County, Tennessee. Discusses health care problems and needs, family support systems for the sick and elderly, fears about cancer risks, and the real picture of underemployment versus the official unemployment rate. (SV)

In many states, school nurses are responsible for too many children; their numbers are dwindling when disabled and chronically ill students desperately need their services. Tennessee has the highest student/nurse ratio (10,000 to 1). Only 6 states meet the recommended 750 to 1 ratio. School-based clinics could ameliorate this problem. (MLH)

Efforts to expand diversity in the health professions has received a boost from a prominent member of Congress. U.S. Senator Bill Frist, R-Tennessee, recently introduced a bill to amend the Public Health Service Act as part of a comprehensive initiative to improve the health of minority and other underserved populations. This bill, which is being…

The Child Health and Development Project (CHDP), a home-based early intervention program operated in six East Tennessee counties, provides well-child clinics, developmental evaluation, individualized early childhood education for disadvantaged children, and training in parenting skills for their parents. The University of Tennessee's Bureau of…