National Healthy Schools Collaborative

Mission: To coordinate cross-sector action to strengthen health and well-being in K–12 education systems nationwide.

Vision: A future where integrated health and education systems make healthy schools the norm—expanding opportunity and advancing long-term success for all.

The National Healthy Schools Collaborative (NHSC) brings together leading organizations across health and education to advance a shared goal: making healthy schools the norm for all students and educators.

Grounded in the belief that health and learning are deeply connected, NHSC aligns leadership, expertise, and action to strengthen well-being across K–12 education systems nationwide. Our work is guided by a commitment to collaboration, inclusion, and solutions that can be scaled and sustained.

Kaiser Permanente convenes and supports the NHSC, working in partnership with members to coordinate activities and advance shared priorities.

Areas of Focus

NHSC advances opportunities for health in education across key areas, including:

Student physical, mental, and social-emotional health
Educator and staff well-being
School climate and safety
Access to health and support services
Chronic absence and student engagement
Cross-sector partnerships to support healthy schools
Sustainable funding for healthy schools

What We Do

Through collaboration, NHSC supports:

Peer exchange and partnership-building
Shared learning and knowledge exchange
Joint communications and thought leadership
Convenings and stakeholder engagement

For more information about the National Healthy Schools Collaborative, including inquiries about engagement, please contact Alex Mays.

Current Members

Resources

Handout

Health Guidance for Going to School

A new guide from Kaiser Permanente, Attendance Works, and the National Association of School Nurses on when to stay home from school and when to return to school.

Handout

National Healthy Schools Collaborative Back-to-School Guide

The National Healthy Schools Collaborative (NHSC) is a collective impact group of organizations working in health and education brought together by Kaiser Permanente Thriving Schools. Part of the mission is to coordinate practices for health in education so every school succeeds, every educator excels, and every child thrives. The collaborative developed a comprehensive list of resources designed to help provide parents, educators, school staff, pediatricians, administrators and/or more with helpful information as the 2023-2024 school year begins. The following resources are available at no cost and can be shared widely.

Handout

Healthy Schools Can Create More Racially Equitable Communities

A new brief commissioned by Kaiser Permanente examines how healthy schools may help address racial inequities across five key areas: health systems, public education, juvenile justice, environmental conditions, and family income. For each area, the brief reviews related racial inequities and, most importantly, describes how healthy schools may contribute to community efforts to dismantle such inequities.

Handout

Healthy Schools Can Mitigate Ongoing Racial Inequities in Education

A new brief commissioned by Kaiser Permanente that highlights the relationship between education and health, and outlines how healthy schools can address six common education inequities.

Website

Attendance Works

Join in efforts to promote policies and practices that support better school attendance with helpful resources from this leading national organization.

Website

School-Based Health Alliance

School-Based Health Alliance is the national voice for school-based health care, working to bringing health care to where students already spend the majority of their time: in school.

Toolkit

SHAPE America

SHAPE America — the Society of Health and Physical Educators — serves as the voice for 200,000+ health and physical education professionals across the U.S. seeking to advance professional practice and promote research related to health and physical education, physical activity, dance and sport. Their website includes a library of resources, no-cost programs and more.

Website

Playworks

Playworks is dedicated to using the power of play to help young people build critical social and emotional skills, find confidence in themselves, and learn positive cultural values, all while being active and having fun. Their website includes no-cost resources to evaluate and improve recess and games to build social-emotional skills in the classroom.