Background: Mass school shootings have created fear in the American public. The results of this fear have been the hardening of schools, lockdowns, and active shooter drills, yet the mass shootings have not ended. The goal of this study was to analyze the mental health awareness of K-12 public schools teachers in Texas with a goal to identify the…

Background: This paper presents the process taken by a nonprofit educational organization to create authentic evaluation tools for Food Education in K-12 schools. Development was a collaborative effort between organization staff and teachers during an Evaluation Summit. The program background, development of the Summit, and plans for post-Summit…

Background: Researchers regularly must decide what information is necessary to understand school climate and how to include climate in a study. For example, which factors and/or scales should be used, is using just 1 scale for school climate sufficient, and to what extent does the selection of a single scale influence the research findings? Aims:…

Background: As summarized in this article, the widespread implementation of modern school health education (SHE) could become one of the most effective means available to improve the well-being of people in the United States and in other nations. However, the development and evolution of SHE largely remains unorganized, underdeveloped, and…

Background: Youth violence, victimization, and bullying are pervasive in schools across the United States and are detrimental for learning and healthy development. K-12 school safety is an increasingly urgent issue to research and understand from multiple perspectives. Physical and psychological safety in school is linked to better student and…

Background: Changes to policies at the federal, state, and local levels over the last decade have influenced the school nutrition environment and services. Methods: This systematic review includes an analysis of individual research articles and government reports published from 2010 to 2021 that examine interventions to improve the school…

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has had drastic effects on K-12 teachers. Researchers partnered with a teacher advisory board to identify factors associated with K-12 teachers' consideration of leaving teaching during Fall 2020. METHODS: A web-based survey focused on teachers' working experiences was emailed to school union membership listservs…

Background: Schools play a vital role in student health, and a collaborative approach may affect health factors such as physical activity (PA) and nutrition. There is a lack of recent literature synthesizing collaborative approaches in K-12 settings. We present updated evidence about interventions that used a coordinated school health approach to…

Background: Ongoing masking of K-12 children has not been universally accepted despite recommendation from public health authorities. In states without universal mask mandates for schools, district administrators are forced to make masking decisions under significant local political pressures. There is a call for endpoints to masking to allow…

Background: Comprehensive sex and sexuality education (CSE) is an evidence-based intervention associated with improved sexual and reproductive health outcomes. Currently, there are no standardized requirements for sex and sexuality education in the United States, despite expert recommendations. Contributions to Theory: In the United States, a…

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted routine school operations, including school health programs. This study aims to describe the pandemic's impact on school health service delivery from the perspective of Maryland school health partners. Methods: We conducted semi-structured interviews with health service representatives from public…

Background: Since the 1990s, national standards have been developed in K-12 subject areas. National standards in health education were first released in 1995 with a second set released in 2007. A third edition, the "National Health Education Standards: Model Guidance for Curriculum" and Instruction was developed in 2022 under the…

Background: We introduce the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child approach to supporting student and school staff physical activity and nutrition and describe the methods used to generate the evidence synthesized across the special issue articles. Methods: A 2-phase literature review search included a search of systematic reviews (2010-2018)…

Background: A school district in Northern Ohio implemented a COVID-19 surveillance program from January 4 to May 21, 2021, as in-person school and extracurricular activities resumed. Methods: Among 560 staff members and >6300 students, random weekly testing was performed on 563 students and weekly for 204 students participating in…

Background: Recess provides many physical, mental, and social benefits for students; however, the most recent systematic review examining the benefits of recess was conducted over a decade ago. The purpose of this paper was to determine the current benefits of school recess by conducting an updated systematic review of the literature. Methods:…