About the Project

Schools are powerful and equitable settings to address population health and are also community hubs, reaching nearly all children during critical developmental years. However, there is a need for better evidence and monitoring of healthy school communities to optimize implementation of more effective interventions. Evidence is needed to guide action, and to coordinate efforts locally, provincially, territorially, and nationally.
This program of research will provide a common surveillance system consisting of indicators and measures of school health, including youth engagement, and will serve as the ‘backbone’ for school health knowledge improvement cycles. Our work moves upstream and will inform the development, mobilization and launch of a national framework for healthy schools in Canada to provide higher level support for our nation’s schools to ensure every child can thrive.

Through two complementary streams of research, this work will lead to: 1) the development and implementation of a suite of tools to evaluate and monitor efforts to promote school health, and, 2) an evidence-based national framework for healthy school communities. At a high level, this will provide a better understanding of what works, for whom, and in what circumstances regarding creating healthy school communities. This work will support school communities in their efforts, and also benefit research, policy and practice communities.

For more information about this project contact: [email protected]

Helpful resources for this project include: