Arlington, VA — The National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) is teaming with the Association of Educational Publishers (AEP) and the Association of American Publishers (AAP) to support First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign by creating voluntary standards for health-conscious examples across academic curricula in all instructional materials.

Nearly one-third of all American children and young people are estimated to be obese or overweight, and one critical way this partnership can help reverse this trend is to reach students in the classroom by portraying healthy behaviors at every opportunity. This could be as simple as changing language in texts—counting carrots instead of cookies, for instance—or using illustrations that demonstrate healthy choices.

Another goal of the partnership is to include health themes and topics into curricula developed for the Common Core Standards in English and math. The plan is for the publisher’s guidelines to be released by the end of this year, following meetings among the principals and representatives of the Let’s Move! program.

“If children are not physically and mentally healthy—if they are distracted by these problems and miss days and weeks of school—they cannot learn to their potential,” said NASBE Executive Director Brenda Welburn. “At NASBE, we are proud of our long history of helping leaders develop policies that address all the needs of students that affect learning and lifelong success. This partnership aligns perfectly with our mission to promote educational improvement and foster a school culture promoting health and wellness. We are happy to join with new partners who can help us help children.”

Studies show that children who are obese or overweight are more likely to develop serious diseases as they get older, including type 2 diabetes, asthma, and high blood pressure. In addition, these students are more likely than their peers to have academic and social problems in school and beyond graduation.

“Publishers are very aware of the need to portray positive images in educational materials. This initiative will help them focus on portraying healthy eating as well,” said Charlene Gaynor, CEO of AEP. “Our anticipation is that the voluntary standards will be widely adopted and will have an impact on obesity in today’s classrooms.”

Let’s Move! is a comprehensive initiative dedicated to solving the epidemic of childhood obesity within a generation. It is designed to give parents the information they need to make healthy choices and create healthful environments for their families. This includes working to have healthier foods served in schools, getting children to be more physically active, and ensuring every family has access to healthy, affordable food.

For more about NASBE’s work on childhood obesity and student health issues, visit our Center for Safe and Healthy Schools.