Engaging Teachers to Improve the School Health Environment

National and local policies have positioned schools to play an integral role in addressing the obesity epidemic by establishing preventive activities. Teachers are ideally suited to have a role in this process as health factors have direct and indirect impacts on student educational outcomes. Community Voices for Health: Teachers Take Action, a professional development program, engages and empowers teachers to be leaders in school health promotion. A modest effort in training can significantly improve a teacher's positive impact on student health. Through curriculum integration of health topics, the school environment can be transformed into an environment that supports the health of students and teachers. Working in a high-needs middle school in Washington, DC, Teachers Take Action, an academic-community partnership, trains over 50 teachers and administrators that serve over 400 students. Once a month teachers learned about personal health and collaborated across grade and core subjects to increase student exposure to health concepts. Our health and behavior survey indicated teachers strongly believe in the intersection of health and learning; however they lack the knowledge necessary for curriculum integration. As a result of the program, teachers added 16 lessons a year on health and nutrition and planted a school garden. The school environment has improved with healthier meals and received the silver HealthierUS School Challenge Award. By engaging teachers on a personal and educational level, students have learned health information in the classroom, observed healthier behaviors modeled by their teachers, and contributed to a culture of school wellness.