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California’s Students Need More School-Based Health

California’s students and families are facing some of the toughest challenges we may see in our lifetime. The pandemic laid bare the increasing need for health and mental health supports, as well as the low access to those services for historically marginalized communities.

As the statewide organization leading the movement to put health care in schools, particularly through school-based health centers and wellness centers (SBHCs/WCs), the California School-Based Health Alliance has made available the Student Health Index – newly updated in 2023 – to identify the counties, districts, and schools where new SBHCs will have the greatest return on investment for improving student health and education equity.

The Data Dashboard Is an Advocacy Tool for More SBHCs

To make the Student Health Index more accessible, a dashboard was created that allows users to view and explore the data through a variety of maps and tables.

The Dashboard – updated in 2023 – provides a new way to look at health and educational data together.

It is a public, interactive mapping tool that spans all large K-12 public schools in the state of California, and allows users to view, download and explore school-level data on health, socioeconomic and school demographics and outcomes
It enables the retrieval, visualization, exploration and download of uniformly defined data across California for conditions, school characteristics and risk factors that can be improved through access to school-based health care and have been associated with impacts on educational outcomes.
It can be used by school staff, state legislators, parents, and the general public to assess opportunities for expanding school-based health care access in California.

Dashboard User Guide

Click the full screen icon at the bottom right to enlarge the dashboard view.

View on Tableau

Why School-Based Health Centers?

SBHCs Are a Proven Approach to Health & Education Equity

The Student Health Index Advances Health & Learning

By identifying where SBHCs will have the most impact for students

The Student Health Index is the first statewide comprehensive analysis to identify the counties, districts, and schools where new SBHCs will have the greatest return on investment for improving student health and education equity.

Executive Summary

Infographic

Key Findings of the Student Health Index

There are counties and districts with significant levels of unmet need

California is 1 of 15 states that does not provide state-level funding and support for SBHCs. Highest need schools are concentrated, especially in rural areas, the Central Valley, and the Inland Empire. Existing SBHCs are located at higher need schools but not consistently at the highest need schools.

Highest need schools serve significantly more students of color than lower need schools

Take the Next Steps to Building Health & Education Equity

Use the Student Health Index to identify schools in your region that would most benefit from a school-based health and wellness center.
Download our Vision to Reality guide to starting a school-based health and wellness center.
Start planning your school-based health and wellness center.
- Form a planning committee
- Conduct a needs assessment
- Identify potential partners
- Brainstorm facility funding sources

Download Vision to Reality See Key Steps to Planning

The updated Student Health Index references information from the following indicators:

Category	Indicator	Description	Geography	Source and Year	Available through UCSF Health Atlas	Updated in the SHI 2.0
Health and Health Care	Diabetes	Diabetes is reported as the percent of adults age 18 and over living within a census tract or ZIP Code Tabulation Area who reported ever having been told by a doctor, nurse, or other health provider in their lifetime that they have diabetes. Women who were told they had diabetes only during pregnancy are not included.	Census Tract	PLACES Project. CDC, 2020.	Yes	No
	Asthma ED admissions	Emergency department visits due to asthma are reported as the age-adjusted rate per 10,000 people who seek treatment in the emergency department for asthma.	Census Tract	CalEnviroScreen, 2021	Yes	Yes
	Teen birth	Births to teen mothers is reported as the percent of women born between 1978 and 1983 within a census tract who claim giving birth to a child when they were between ages 13 and 19 and still a dependent. Data on births to teen mothers comes from the Opportunity Atlas, a project that traces social mobility from childhood to the mid-30s.	Census Tract	Opportunity Atlas	Yes	No
	Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSA)	Primary Care Health Professional Shortage Area Score indicates shortage of primary care providers and priority for assignment of clinicians (0 to 26 where the higher the score, the greater the priority).	Census Tract	Health Resources and Services Administration, 2023	Yes	Yes
	COVID data	Covid vaccination rate by Zip Code	Zip Code Level	CALHHS, as of June 27, 2023	No	New Indicator
School-Level Indicators	Percent FRPL	Percent of total unduplicated count of students who meet household income or categorical eligibility criteria for free or reduced price meals (FRPM) (on Census Day).	School-level	2021-22 CDE CALPADS Unduplicated Pupil Count (UPC)	No	Yes
	Percent English Learners	The percent of students enrolled on Census Day who were identified in CALPADS as English learners (EL) on or before Census Day.	School-level	2021-22 CDE CALPADS Unduplicated Pupil Count (UPC)	No	Yes
	Percent Chronically Absent	The unduplicated count of students determined to be chronically absent as calculated by CDE.	School-level	2021-22 Chronic Absenteeism Data	No	Yes
	Percent experiencing homelessness	The percent of students reported as being homeless on Census Day based on Education Program record.	School-level	2021-22 CDE CALPADS Unduplicated Pupil Count (UPC)	No	Yes
	Suspension rate	The unduplicated count of students suspended divided by cumulative enrollment (calculated by CDE).	School-level	2021-22 CDE Suspension Data	No	Yes
Socioeconomic	Poverty among individuals under 18	Percent of the census tract population under 18 living in households with income below poverty level in the past 12 months.	Census Tract	American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, 2015-2019	Yes	No
	Uninsured among under 19	Percent of the census tract population under 19 with no health insurance coverage.	Census Tract	American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, 2015-2019	Yes	No
	Healthy Places Index	Census tract-level percentile score where higher percentile indicates more healthy neighborhood conditions based on 25 community characteristics within 8 Policy Action Areas.	Census Tract	The California Healthy Places Index 3.0, 2022 Public Health Alliance of Southern California.	Yes	Yes
	No automobile access	Percent of households with no vehicle	Census tract	American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, 2015-2019	Yes	New Indicator
Other Data Not Included in Index	Mental health hospitalization rate	The number of hospital discharges for mental health issues per 1,000 children ages 5-19	County	kidsdata.org, Estimate for 2015-2017.	No	No
Other Data Not Included in Index	Percent in foster care	The percent of students who are in foster care. Total foster population divided by enrollment.	School-level	2021-22 CDE CALPADS Unduplicated Pupil Count (UPC)	No	Yes

You can read the original full report from our initial 2021 release of the Student Health Index to learn details about data sources, methodology, and more.

Read the full report.

Watch Our Release Webinar from 2021