Achieving consensus on principles of good practice for school health in independent schools: A Delphi study

Helping to improve the health of students nationwide is the model of Coordinated School Health ("CSH"). Although CSH receives attention in many public schools, knowledge of the implementation of CSH, as well as knowledge of policies and practices related to school health in non-public schools remains unknown. Yet, the National Center for Education Statistics reports that non-public schools represent about 24% of schools in the U.S. One subset of the non-public ("private") school population is the independent school. Independent schools comprise approximately 1,400 K-12 schools in the U.S.; however, given the nature of their operations and their function in society, they are often unaffected by changes in policies or regulations. Instead, they operate under the general guidance of Principles of Good Practice ("PGPs"). PGPs exist for important areas of school operations, such as "Equity and Justice", "Athletics", and 20 other areas. PGPs do not exist, however, for school health. Thus, as part of an ongoing national effort to increase the proportion of K-12 schools that promote healthy choices and lifestyles, the present study implemented a modified Delphi Method to achieve consensus on Principles of Good Practice for school health in independent schools. At the conclusion of three rounds, the Delphi was successful in facilitating consensus among a panel of six school health researchers and 21 independent school health practitioners. The panel achieved consensus on feasibility of 56 PGPs for school health in independent schools. These PGPs are the outcome of the first systematic attempt to create PGPs for school health in independent schools.