CDC Expands Resources to Engage Spanish-Speaking Parents in Creating Healthier Schools

mom_daughter_teacher-hispanic-healthy-school-meeting

Share On Social!

By CDC Healthy Schools
Guest Blogger for Salud America!

Research shows that parent engagement in schools is closely linked to healthier student behavior, higher academic achievement, and enhanced social skills.

Everyone—school administrators and teachers, parents, and students—benefits from parents being involved in their children’s school.

This can be a challenge, though, for some parents who do not speak English well.

In fact, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Minority Health (OMH) reports that 29.8% of Hispanics state they are not fluent in English.

To reach this population of parents, CDC Healthy Schools has translated many of its Parents for Healthy Schools resources into Spanish.

Schools, school groups, and school health councils and teams can use the Parents for Healthy Schools resources to encourage parent involvement in school health.

The core set of materials includes fact sheets, a guide with training and evaluation materials, and an e-Learning course.

For example, here’s some parent tips for physical education in English and Spanish.

These materials can help educate parents about school health topics and provide them with practical strategies and actions to improve the learning, development, and health of their child. The materials also provide suggestions for schools on how to track progress in engaging parents to improve school health.

Parents will find useful suggestions on how to support their child’s school in the “Ideas for Parents” tip sheets.

“These materials are intended to help schools engage families in creating and sustaining a healthy school environment through the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child approach,” says Holly Hunt, chief of CDC’s School Health Branch (CDC Healthy Schools).

Learn more about CDC Healthy Schools.

Email cdchealthyschools@cdc.gov to join the partner e-Blast list and be the first to learn about new tools, resources, or updates.