School Health Policies: Evidenced-based Programs for Policy Implementation

ABSTRACT

As the Affordable Care Act continues to shape the direction of health care policy in America, this article reports on successful school health policy programs that were implemented to meet the requirements of the Mississippi Healthy Students Act. In 2007, Mississippi passed Senate Bill 2369, also known as the Mississippi Healthy Students Act. The law recommends that schools engage in providing health activities that enhance student’s well-being. However, due to the lack of appropriate funding and bureaucratic structural development, the implementation of the policy has been a lackluster execution. Drawing on policy implementation theory, the authors report findings associated with two initiatives that have been implemented to enhance student health in Mississippi. By examining the New Pathways to Health Initiative (NPHI) and Good Food for Oxford Schools (GFOS), the authors find that numerous positive outcomes were achieved with both initiatives. Although the implementation of school health programs relied heavily on advocacy groups and nongovernmental funding to achieve this success, the authors argue that these models can easily be transferred to other regions of the state and country that are focusing on improving student health.

KEYWORDS:

• school health policy
• policy implementation
• mississippi healthy students act
• community engagement