Policy Pathways to Strengthen School-Based Oral Health Education & Screening Implementation

Oct 15, 2026

Upload by James

Policy Pathways to Strengthen School-Based Oral Health Education & Screening Implementation outlines the current status of oral health curriculum in California’s TK-12 schools and identifies legislative and regulatory policy routes that partners can pursue. The brief explains gaps in state-adopted instructional materials and accountability, highlights the role of the Health Framework and federal Head Start requirements, and describes opportunities to strengthen oral health literacy and improve hygiene behaviors and school readiness.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages6

Reading Time15 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Status of Oral Health Curriculum in TK-12 Schools

Prioritize Oral Health in Health Framework

Leverage the Kindergarten Oral Health Assessment

Policy Pathways to Strengthen School-Based Oral Health Education & Screening Implementation November 2024 Introduction Research shows children with poor oral health are nearly three times more likely to miss school than their healthier peers which can lead to lower academic performance and ability to succeed in school. 1 Furthermore, poor oral health remains one of the top reasons why California students miss school, resulting in a loss of $28 million per year to school districts.2 Oral health education provided in schools is one of several strategies identified to help improve children’s health outcomes.3 However, due to a lack of accountability and the current curriculum, oral health education in schools has occurred unevenly and has been mostly provided by non-school staff. This brief outlines the status of oral health education provided in California’s TK-12 schools and legislative and regulatory policy pathways that partners can pursue in order to ensure students are learning the importance of the connection between oral health to overall health and the hygiene and behaviors necessary to stay in school ready to learn. Status of Oral Health Curriculum in TK-12 Schools Oral health is included in the California Health Education Content Standards.4 Guidance to schools on how to implement these standards, including those on oral health, is included in the Health Framework for California Public Schools (Framework) adopted by the State Board of Education in 2019 and published in 2021 for grades TK-5 and 7-12.5 Despite having both content standards anda curriculum framework, there are no state-adopted instructional materials (a. k.a. textbooks or curriculum) aligned with the 2019 Framework for health in TK-8 grades. This leaves each school district with the responsibility of reviewing and selecting instructional materials for health, for which there are several choices that a district can choose from depending on the grade.6 In addition, there is no accountability mechanism if a school does not use the Framework.7 Even ifa teacher takes the time to teach a lesson about oral hygiene consistent with the standards and Framework, there is no formal system to determine whether a teacher delivered the curriculum orto measure if a student understood what they were taught. Still, teaching oral health hygiene, especially to younger students, remains an important priority. Federal Head Start requires programs to provide high-quality health, oral health, mental health, and nutrition services that are developmentally, culturally, and linguistically appropriate and that will support each child’s growth and school readiness.8 Head Start Policies and Procedures further require that programs “must promote effective oral health hygiene by ensuring all children with teeth are assisted by appropriate staff, or volunteers, if available, in brushing their teeth with toothpaste containing fluoride once daily. “9 In California, all 61 local health departments received funding in 2022 to implement community oral health improvement plans through which several local oral health programs leverage their funds to identify and coordinate with local hygienists, dentists, and school personnel to deliver oral health lessons and screenings to school-age children. Over the next several years, there are a number of opportunities that concerned partners can take to strengthen the provision of oral health curriculum in TK-12 settings. As stated above, while there are no accountability measures to ensure that oral health curriculum is ultimately delivered in schools, there are policy pathways that could help strengthen and scale practices to increase the oral health literacy of students and lead to improved oral health hygiene behaviors and outcomes. Prioritize Oral Health in Health Framework Oral health hygiene already exists in the Health Framework, which essentially provides guidance on what and how schools should teach health in classrooms. T

FAQs

Why is strengthening school-based oral health education important for student success?

Children with poor oral health miss school more often, which can reduce academic performance and school success. The brief also notes significant annual financial impacts on California school districts.

What curriculum and accountability gaps exist in California’s TK-12 oral health education?

There are no state-adopted instructional materials aligned with the 2019 Health Framework for TK-8. There is also no accountability mechanism to confirm curriculum delivery or assess whether students understood the content.

What policy steps does the brief recommend to strengthen oral health education?

It recommends prioritizing oral health within updates to the Health Framework, addressing standards for grades lacking oral health benchmarks, and leveraging early-learning guidance such as PTKLF. It also highlights opportunities tied to later publisher adoption processes and screening assessments like KOHA.

Oct 15, 2026

Upload by James