NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the Councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for this report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.

The report has been reviewed by a group other than the authors according to procedures approved by a Report Review Committee consisting of members of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine.

The Institute of Medicine was chartered in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to enlist distinguished members of the appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. In this, the Institute acts under both the Academy's 1863 congressional charter responsibility to be an adviser to the federal government and its own initiative in identifying issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Kenneth I. Shine is president of the Institute of Medicine.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Schools and health : our nation's investment / Committee on Comprehensive School Health Programs in Grades K-12, Division of Health Sciences Policy, Institute of Medicine ; Diane Allensworth … [et al.], editors.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. School health services—United States. 2. School health services—United States—Planning. 3. Health education—United States. I. Allensworth, Diane DeMuth. II. Institute of Medicine (U.S.). Committee on Comprehensive School Health Programs.

LB3409.U5S33 1997

371.7′1′0973—dc21 97-21177

The serpent has been a symbol of long life, healing, and knowledge among almost all cultures and religions since the beginning of recorded history. The image adopted as a logotype by the Institute of Medicine is based on a relief carving from ancient Greece, now held by the Staatliche Museen in Berlin.