Changes in national and state policies in the past two decades have had a negative impact on school health education. During this same time, significant gains have been made in our understanding of the relationship between health and academic outcomes. This article proposes three challenges that could help refocus our country's efforts toward the positive impacts quality school health education can have on our population. Each of these challenges has corresponding recommendations to guide stakeholder efforts to help bring about these changes.
Keywords: child/adolescent health; coordinated school health programs; health literacy; logic models; program planning and evaluation; school health.