Centers for Disease Cont and Prevention

Profiles: 2010, School Health Profiles Centers for Disease Cont and Prevention

Publisher Marketing: In the United States, more than 55 million young people are enrolled in elementary and secondary schools.1 Because young people attend school about six hours a day approximately 180 days per year, schools are in a unique position to help improve the health status of children and adolescents throughout the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in collaboration with state and local education and health agencies, developed the School Health Profiles (Profiles) to measure school health policies and practices. Profiles has been conducted biennially since 1996 and includes state, local, territorial, and tribal surveys of principals and lead health education teachers in middle and high schools. Profiles helps state, local, territorial, and tribal education and health agencies monitor and assess characteristics of and trends in school health education; physical education; school health policies related to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) prevention, tobacco-use prevention, and competitive foods (i.e., foods and beverages sold outside of the United States Department of Agriculture [USDA] school meal programs); asthma management activities; and family and community involvement in school health programs.