HHD Presents its Required Reading List for Health-Minded Educators and Administrators

The new school year is underway! School administrators and educators can ensure that the months ahead will be a safe, healthy and academically productive by perusing a few of HHD's must-read publications.

HHD has more than 200 available publications, curricula, and teaching aids that promote healthy human development and reduce risk behaviors, which can help to improve academic performance. Some can be downloaded for free, and others can be easily purchased online. All of them incorporate up-to-date research and best practices to foster healthy lifestyles and create safe environments that promote learning.

Education Development Center, the parent of HHD, also publishes a wide range of research and resource material online.

These five HHD publications are recommended for education professionals who see connections between the health and well-being of their students and improved educational outcomes:

• Health is Academic: A Guide to Coordinated School Health Programs -- This comprehensive guide defines coordinated school health programs and discusses how they contribute to the health and educational achievement of students; who participates in and supports these programs at the local school, state, and national levels; and how to implement these programs. An associated document is Talking about Health is Academic, which consists of six workshop modules containing narrative script, overheads, and handouts for presentations to those who can influence or participate in the implementation of coordinated school health programs at national, state, or local levels.
  
  
• Preventing School Injuries -- A comprehensive guide for school administrators, teachers, and staff on preventing injuries in schools and environments in which the school is responsible for the safety of students and staff.
  
  
• Mental Health Issues in Schools -- A Guide for Teachers, School Administrators, and Parents -- One in a series of EDC monographs on mental health issues, this publication focuses on the school-age population.
  
  
• Educating for Health: A Guide to Implementing a Comprehensive Approach to School Health Education -- Written for school administrators and other local decision makers considering selecting and adopting a health curriculum, this manual addresses in a step -by -step narrative the numerous tasks, decisions, and issues they need to address.
  
  
• School-Based Prevention: Critical Components -- This material excerpts key points included in Applying Effective Strategies to Prevent Substance Use and Violence Among Students in Grades K-12, a publication under development at the New England Comprehensive Assistance Center at EDC and the Northeast CAPT.

Enjoy the rest of your summer, and happy reading!

August, 2004