Why Coordinated School Health?
Because healthy kids make the difference! School success and academic achievement are built on a strong foundation of healthy students learning in safe and caring school environments. thrive makes the connection between health and student achievement. 
thrive is Rhode Island’s Coordinated School Health Program (CSHP). A nine-component program developed in 1994 with funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), thrive was designed to prevent serious health problems and to improve educational outcomes. According to the CDC, schools by themselves cannot—and should not be expected to—address the nation's most serious health and social problems. For this reason, the CDC developed the coordinated school health program model to help communities and schools work together to more effectively address health issues.
As partners in thrive, the Rhode Island Departments of Education and Health work to build infrastructure supports with state, school, and community partners to help create safe, healthy, and nurturing schools that reduce barriers to learning.
Aligned with the Comprehensive Educational Strategy (CES) and frameworks, thrive has also been successful in effecting legislative and regulatory changes, in developing and implementing policy as well as standards-based curriculum, instruction, and assessment, and in designing and providing professional development opportunities for school administrators, policy-makers, teachers, parents, students, and community organizations.
For more information, contact:
The Rhode Island Department of Education
255 Westminster Street, Providence, RI 02903
401-222-4600
1-800-745-5555 (Relay RI/TTY)
The Rhode Island Department of Health
3 Capitol Hill, Providence RI 02908
401-222-2231
711 (TTY)
Midge Sabatini, Ed.D.
Manager, Coordinated School Health Program
Rhode Island Department of Education
401-222-8952
Midge.Sabatini@ride.ri.gov
Rosemary Reilly-Chammat, Ed.D.
Program Manager, Initiative for Healthy Youth
Rhode Island Department of Health
401-222-5922
Rosemary.Reilly-Chammat@health.ri.gov
This website is supported by Cooperative Agreement #U87/CCU122675-05 from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official view of the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.
