Description of the Model
Whole School Whole Community Whole Child Model
Overview of the WSCC Model
Schools provide a perfect setting for efficient and effective collaboration between health and education, individuals, society, and the economy. Through the integration of health services and programs into the school environment, academic achievement can be increased and learning can be improved. The Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) model offers guidance to this integration by combining and building upon elements of the Coordinated School Health (CSH) approach and the Whole Child Framework. The WSCC model draws upon the whole community while addressing the needs of the whole child.
- Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) has worked to align and create collaborations among healthy school communities and the Whole Child Initiative.
- The Coordinated School Health (CSH) approach, introduced in 1987, illustrates the necessity for healthy students and healthy schools, but did not have the desired effect.
- The WSCC model was launched in 2014 in the hope of ensuring that educators take the health of the student, the teacher, and the school seriously.
Expansion of the CSH Model
The Coordinated School Health (CSH) approach, introduced by the CDC in 1987, has been used to integrate health-promoting practices into the school setting. The Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) model is an expanded, updated version of the CSH approach. The WSCC model focuses on the child, emphasizing a school-wide approach.
- The WSCC model includes 10 components, expanding two components of the CSH approach; Healthy and Safe School Environment and Family/Community Involvement.
- The WSCC model recognizes learning, health, and the school as a reflection and components of the community
Facts about WSCC
Schools play an important role in establishing healthy, safe behaviors among youth, which can then lead to lifelong behavior patterns. In order to achieve the best health outcomes for youth, members of the community, schools, community organizations, and government agencies must work together. Awareness has increased concerning the need to improve the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional development of children through the integration and collaboration of education and health.
- There is a link between the health outcomes of youth and their academic success.
- The Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) model expands upon the eight elements of the CDC’s Coordinated School Health (CSH) approach.
- The WSCC model focuses on the child, while aligning the desired outcomes of public health and education.