School Health NASN Every Student Counts
It is strongly encouraged that all school districts participate in the National Association of School Nurses (NASN) Every Student Counts. Unlike many states, Minnesota doesn’t have a state reporting requirement for student health and school health services. Yet, having statewide information to inform state policy and for individual districts to monitor trends and comparison to the state level is important for informed decision making. Putting data into one platform where reports and trends can be critical to inform policy, understand school nursing practice, increase visibility and awareness of the role of the school nurse and school health services, and foster broader community partnerships. This initiative started in 2018 and Minnesota's first year of participation was the 2023-2024 school year.
Every Student Counts is designed to encourage a robust national school health data set that will:
- Influence local, state, and national student health policy.
- Identify best practices in school health.
- Better understand child health.
NASN utilizes uniform data points with inclusion and exclusion criteria. The purpose of the data sets is for ALL school nurses to collect data in the same way so there is uniformity, and the data can be compared. NASN provides Video Briefs to help educate nurses.
The School Nurse Organization of Minnesota (SNOM) is leading the efforts for Minnesota. SNOM has two Every Student Counts Coordinators ready to assist nurses and schools to participate. The state data coordinators will faciliatate data collection, provide technical assistance, FAQs, data collection worksheets, and answer questions related to data collection or understanding the data to be collected. SNOM Information and Influence in School Nursing to learn more.
Key Facts
- Participation is voluntary and open to public schools, charter schools and private schools.
- ONLY aggregate data is submitted, no student specific individual data is required. NASN and SNOM both provide FAQs related to data.
- The nurse or the school does not need to be a NASN or SNOM member to participate.
- The school does not need an electronic health record to participate.
Additional questions can be direct to health.school.health@state.mn.us.