Overweight and Obesity
Resources for Schools

Here you will find tools for developing and evaluating school obesity-prevention programs and for educating students and their families, teachers, and school staff about the problem of obesity and solutions. Also see the companion school resource briefs, Nutrition Education and School Meals and Physical Activity and Physical Education.

Websites
Additional Electronic Resources
Related MCH Library Resources

Websites

• Action for Healthy Kids. Program information and resources to help support positive changes in nutrition and physical activity in schools to address the problem of obesity. Action for Healthy Kids partners with schools and families in every state to improve child and adolescent health and readiness to learn through better nutrition and physical activity. Includes
  
  Wellness Policy Tool. An online tool that outlines a series of steps for developing, implementing, and evaluating a wellness policy that meets a local school district's unique goals for nutrition and physical activity.
  
  
• Alliance for a Healthier Generation: Healthy Schools Program. Tools, tips, and resources to implement this program aimed at preventing childhood obesity by encouraging healthy snacks and school meals and physical activity and education among students, teachers, and staff in schools. American Heart Association (AHA) and the Clinton Foundation.
  
  
• Bridging the Gap. Reports, research briefs, presentations, datasets, and survey tools examining how policies and environmental factors, particularly in schools and communities, affect diet, physical activity, and obesity among students. University of Michigan Institute for Social Research and the University of Illinois at Chicago Institute for Health Research and Policy. Includes
  
  Activity Breaks: A Promising Strategy for Keeping Children Physically Active at School. (2012). [Research brief].
  
  School Policies and Practices to Improve Health and Prevent Obesity. (2012). [National Elementary School Survey Results (Vol. 2), National Secondary School Survey Results (Vol. 2)].
  
  
• Caloric Calculator. Tool to help policymakers, school district administrators, and advocates assess the potential impact on childhood obesity of 14 interventions to help children and adolescents increase physical activity, improve their diets, and reduce screen time. Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.
  
  
• Healthy Schools, Healthy Weight. Recommendations for schools to help students eat well and stay active during the school day, monitor weight trends, and teach students healthy habits for life. Harvard School of Public Health.
  
  
• Healthy Youth! Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity. Data, science-based strategies, policy guidance, and information about national, state, and local programs to address child and adolescent obesity. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Includes
  
  BMI Percentile Calculator for Child and Teen. (2011).
  
  Obesity Epidemic and United States Students. (2012). [Data brief].
  
  School Health Guidelines to Promote Healthy Eating and Physical Activity. (2011).
  
  School Health Index. A self-assessment and planning tool that schools can use to improve their health and safety policies and programs, including those related to obesity.
  
  Also see the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS).
  
  
• Let's Move! Tools to help make schools healthier places to learn by providing high-quality nutrition, integrating physical activity during the day, and teaching children about the importance of embracing a healthy, active lifestyle to prevent obesity. The White House.
  
  
• Rudd ‘Roots Parents. Suggestions for parents about how to make school foods healthy for kids. Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity.
  
  
• Teacher Enrichment Initiatives (TEI): Obesity. Educational materials for teaching middle- and high-school students about cause-and-effect relationships related to adolescent obesity. Includes lesson plans, activity ideas, and background information for teachers. Related curricula address nutrition and physical activity. University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and K–12 teachers in the San Antonio, TX, area.
  

Additional Electronic Resources

• Center for School, Health and Education. 2011. Understanding Hunger and Obesity and the Role for School-Based Health Care, rev. ed. Washington, DC: American Public Health Association (APHA). [Issue brief].
  
  
• Christeson W, Taggart AD, Messner-Zidell S, Kiernan M, Cusick J, Day R. 2012. Still Too Fat to Fight. Washington, DC: Mission: Readiness. [Report].
  
  
• National Collaborative for Childhood Obesity Research (NCCOR) and National Academy of Environmental Design (NAED), in partnership with the U.S. Green Building Council Center for Green Schools. 2012. Green Health: Building Sustainable Schools for Healthy Kids Workshop—Final Report. Washington, DC: National Collaborative for Childhood Obesity Research (NCCOR) and National Academy of Environmental Design in partnership with U.S. Green Building Council Center for Green Schools.
  
  
• National League of Cities Institute for Youth, Education, and Families and American Association of School Administrators (AASA). 2010. Community Wellness: Comprehensive City-School Strategies to Reduce Childhood Obesity. Washington, DC: National League of Cities. [Report].
  
  
• Also see the MCH Library resource brief, Maternal and Child Health Literature and Research Databases, and, in particular, the Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) Database and the State School Healthy Policy Database.
  

Related MCH Library Resources

• Food Marketing to Children and Adolescents resource brief
• Nutrition in Children and Adolescents knowledge path, family resource brief, school resource brief
• Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity Prevention in Child Care and Early Education Programs resource brief
• Overweight and Obesity in Children and Adolescents knowledge path, family resource brief
• Physical Activity and Children and Adolescents knowledge path, family resource brief, school resource brief

Overweight and Obesity: School Resource Brief, 2nd ed. (December 2012).
Author: Susan Brune Lorenzo, M.L.S., MCH Library.
Reviewers: S. Jean Emans, M.D., Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School; Alison Field, Sc.D., Boston Children's Hospital; Stephanie Loup, M.P.H. and R.D. candidate, University of Minnesota; Shree Mohanty, M.A., M.S., R.D., L.D., Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Region V; Olivia Pickett, M.A., M.L.S., MCH Library; Tracy Richmond, M.D., M.P.H., Boston Children's Hospital; Mikaela Robertson, M.P.H. and R.D. candidate, University of Minnesota; Kendrin Sonneville, R.D., Sc.D., Boston Children's Hospital. Editor: Ruth Barzel, M.A., MCH Library.