This case study explores one school’s implementation of the Paramount Health Data Project (PHDP), which uses student health data to drive early academic support interventions. The PHDP aims to close the achievement gap between low-income students and their wealthier peers by studying the correlations between different social determinants of health and academic performance. 

Social determinants of health and academic performance

We initiated a pilot of the Paramount Health Data Project three years ago when we noticed that poverty-stricken students were 13 times less likely than their wealthy peers to graduate on time. The program has given our staff reliable data points to identify students who may need extra academic support before issues show up in the classroom. The Paramount Health Data Project provides a model for how to bring the health and education sectors together by leveraging school health data (e.g., visits to the school nurse) and existing school academic data. Tracking visits to the school nurse provided us with tangible data points that really allow us to intervene early. As we continued tracking the frequency and purpose of the nurse visits, we found that students who visited the school nurse seven or more times in a year showed significantly lower aggregate math and ELA scores than students who visited the school nurse six or fewer times. The majority of students at Paramount Brookside – just about 75% – are in the healthy student range of six or fewer visits to the school nurse. But for the other 25% of our students, we were better able to identify the need to proactively intervene.

We continue to study the correlations between different social determinants of health and academic performance, and the number of visits to the school nurse continues to be a prominent data point. Over time, it has proven to be a predictor of academic risk and in response, we have developed early intervention structures to help students through what might otherwise have had a negative impact on them academically – and which we would not have identified until midyear or final test scores were shared.

On a weekly basis, we pull student data and meet with our school nurse to review it. The data is for all our students – including students with disabilities – who have visited the nurse a certain number of times for ear, mouth, or nose issues. We track the data and review it among various subgroups. Interestingly, right now we aren’t identifying a huge discrepancy between students with disabilities and general education students. We collaborate and workshop the data with teachers to build greater understanding and awareness. 

From our MTSS work, we know that there is nothing more powerful than early intervention. In response to the data, our instructional assistants build student groups and design additional supports. Then we provide intervention to students we identify as presenting risk.

Learn more about the Paramount Health Data Project!