Downloadable Resources & Documents

The Michigan Team Nutrition Booklist
An annotated list of over 300 Children's books with positive food and physical activity messages. This booklist is a component of Pyramids Between the Pages, a program that links literacy with nutrition and physical activity education.

School Foods Report Card
Illinois was handed a report card Friday, but it wasn't one to brag about. The state scored a D-minus on a "school foods report card" issued Tuesday by the Center for Science in the Public Interest. The consumer advocacy group examined states' nutrition policies for food and drinks sold in schools via vending machines, stores, fund-raisers and a la carte in the cafeteria.

Fighting Obesity in the Public Schools
Spring 2006 policy brief from The Future of Children noting that public schools are playing a central role in fighting childhood obesity despite both political and financial constraints, but also pointing out that schools should do even more to reduce the availability of junk food, make school meals more nutritious, and increase students daily exercise.

An Action for Healthy Kids Report: Helping Students Make Better Food Choices in School
Spring 2006 report focused on a project involving a dozen Illinois schools participated and designed to test various approaches to improving school-based nutrition. Several organizations and businesses, including Action for Healthy Kids, were part of a working group which provided technical support and expertise to the schools.

Prevalence and Implementation of IAQ Programs in U.S. Schools
January 2006 report to determine the extent to which U.S. schools are implementing indoor air quality
(IAQ) programs.

LAUSD School Facilities and Academic Performance
A good school facility supports the educational enterprise. Research has shown that clean air, good light, and a small, quiet, comfortable, and safe learning environment are important for academic achievement.

The Learning Connection: The Value of Improving Nutrition and Physical Activity in Our Schools
Action for Healthy Kids report documenting how the excessive rise in poor nutrition, inactivity and weight problems is adversely affecting academic achievement and possibly costing schools millions of dollars each year.

British Medical Journal - Study on cutting soft drinks
LONDON (AP) School programs discouraging carbonated drinks appear to be effective in reducing obesity among children, a new study suggests - the first research to document that such programs work.

Chicago Pilot Project Report
This document is a report that summarizes the findings from 10 green cleaning pilot projects throughout Chicago (Fall 2003).

Dispensing Junk: How School Vending Undermines Efforts
A nationwide survey of vending machines in middle schools and high schools finds that 75 percent of the drinks and 85 percent of the snacks sold are of poor nutritional value. The study, of 1,420 vending machines in 251 schools, was organized by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) and conducted by 120 volunteers. CSPI contends that all foods sold out of vending machines, school stores, and other venues outside of the official school lunch program should make positive contributions to children's diets and health.

Healthy Schools Campaign 2003 Report
An overview of the problems facing Illinois schools, possible solutions, and HSC policy recommendations.

Obesity, Hunger and School Food
Summary report of HSC's public forum on reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act.

Do School Facilities Affect Academic Outcomes?
Examine facility attributes that most affect academic outcomes and in what manner and degree. The research is examined in six categories: indoor air quality, ventilation, and thermal comfort; lighting; acoustics; building age and quality; school size; and class size. Spatial configurations, noise, heat, cold, light, and air quality obviously bear on students' and teachers' ability to perform. Clean air, good light, and a quiet, comfortable, and safe learning environment are needed. This can and generally has been achieved within the limits of existing knowledge, technology, and materials. It simply requires adequate funding and competent design, construction, and maintenance.

Public Schools and Economic Development
Jonathan Weiss, a nationally recognized expert in community sustainability and economic development, reviewed the existing research on the relationship between schools and economic development.

Building Momentum: National Trends and Prospects for High-Performance Green Buildings
Based on the April 2002 Green Building Roundtable and prepared for the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works by the U.S. Green Building Council.

America's Children and the Environment: Measures of Contaminants, Body Burdens, and Illnesses, Second Edition
February 2003 document put together by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and several other groups, documenting both the gains in children's environmental health and the things still left to do.

Schools Facilities: Profile of School Conditions by State
June 1996 report prepared by the U.S. General Accounting Office.