California Healthy Start

An Effective Practice

Description

Established in 1991 by Senate Bill 620, the Healthy Start Support Services for Children Act aims to improve student learning and support families through holistic means. The California Department of Education administers Healthy Start grants for planning and operation to local educational agencies. Each community's Healthy Start program is unique. However, all are designed to ensure each child receives the physical, emotional, and academic support necessary to learn, build the capacity of students and their communities, and help integrate child and family-serving agencies for increased effectiveness.

Goal / Mission

California Healthy Start's mission is to provide comprehensive services that support the wide variety of needs of children and further student learning.

Results / Accomplishments

Statewide evaluations of Healthy Start have shown improvements in academics, in reducing unmet basic needs (including food, clothing, and transportation) as well as medical and dental needs, and in decreasing family violence and improving emotional well-being. School-wide assessments recorded improvements in student behavior, standardized test performance, and student attendance.

About this Promising Practice

Organization(s)
California Department of Education
Primary Contact
Coordinated School Health and Safety Office
California Department of Education
1430 N. Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 319-0914
schoolhealth@cde.ca.gov
http://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/pf/hs/
Topics
Health / Children's Health
Community / Social Environment
Education / School Environment
Organization(s)
California Department of Education
Date of implementation
1991
Location
California
Target Audience
Children, Families

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Related Content for: California Healthy Start

An Effective Practice meets the following HCI criteria:

  1. The program description includes at a minimum: the sponsoring organization, program goals, program implementation steps, and outcomes that have demonstrated program success and/or promise in achieving the program goal in one or more localities.
  2. The results from an evaluation of the program include quantitative measures of improvement in outcome of interest (i.e. increase in voter registration, not just delivery of voter registration drive) and/ or the outcome measure is increased or improved compared to the baseline measurement or the control group but the difference is not statistically significant.