Poor physical health creates barriers to learning for many low-income students. This elementary school decided to do something about it.
When students' basic health and safety needs are unmet, their chances of achieving academic success diminish. As Carter (2007) writes, "A child's educational success is linked to health—in fact, this relationship is one of the core elements of educating the whole child. . . . The reality is that many underprivileged children just need the appropriate medical care to ensure school readiness."
At Kinoshita Elementary School in San Juan Capistrano, California, we've taken a close look at this predictor of student success and developed an action plan to meet our students' health and safety needs. Kinoshita's student population is 97 percent Latino and 90 percent English language learners; 92 percent of our students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Although we understand that no single magic bullet can substantially improve the lives of at-risk children and their families, we believe that providing high-quality education for our students means using every strategy available to create not only a challenging curriculum but also a safe and healthy learning environment.
The 100-Percent Campaign
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