School Health Program

The School Health Program provides technical assistance and training to Illinois school health personnel serving over 2 million school age children. Communication is designed to keep school health providers abreast with current health requirements, communicable and infectious disease issues, current practices in management of acute and chronic disease, education and grant opportunities, changes in public health rule and law, resources available through the Illinois Department of Public Health and other state agencies. The program maintains an email list through which information is distributed on a regular basis.

The School Health Program monitors certified school health centers operating in Illinois for compliance with 77 Ill. Admin. Code 641 School-Based/Linked Health Centers. See link to the full code, list of sites and maps in the resource list. The purpose of a school health center is to improve the overall physical and emotional health of school age children and youth by promoting healthy lifestyles and by providing accessible preventive healthcare. Through early detection and treatment of chronic and acute health problems, identification of risk-taking behaviors and appropriate anticipatory guidance, treatment and referral, school health centers assure students are healthy and ready to learn. Services provided onsite include routine medical care for acute illness and injury, school/sports physicals, immunizations, nutrition counseling, sexually transmitted disease testing and treatment, pregnancy testing and health education. Each local community decides which other services (i.e., drug and substance use counseling, mental health counseling, dental services, and family planning) will be provided onsite or by referral. Students in need of care beyond what is offered at the health center are referred to specialists as needed.

Public Act 099-0927, which covers school health examinations and immunizations, has been amended to include the requirement that all school-age children in Illinois have a health examination periodically throughout their school years. A requirement was added to complete age-appropriate social, emotional, and developmental screenings utilizing validated screening tools appropriate to the child’s age or grade. The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) has developed rules to address this amendment, which have been adopted by the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules and are now a part of the administrative code.

Proof of social-emotional and developmental screening will be recorded on the Certificate of Child Health Examination form. The goal is to have the updated form utilized for the 2024-2025 school year. Any child health examination that occurs after January 1, 2025 for the 2025-2026 school year must utilize the updated child health exam form.

Starting on January 1, 2024, the Certificate of Child Health Examination form will include a space for the health care provider to record whether or not a proof of social-emotional and developmental screening was conducted. However, should this part of the form not be filled out, the student should not be removed from school and may enroll in or remain enrolled in school. The form will only indicate whether a screening was conducted and will NOT contain results of the screening.

Additionally, a system to review and to post age-appropriate, validated social-emotional and developmental screening tools for use by qualified school support personnel and health care providers is being developed; a preliminary list is provided below. IDPH will work with the Illinois State Board of Education to identify tools that may be utilized in the school environment. Screening tools will be updated as they are recommended.

As a part of the process to identify additional screening tools, the public is invited to submit a petition to consider a specific tool by emailing DPH.SEL@illinois.gov.

When petitioning IDPH to add a validated screening tool, the petitioner must include:

• A complete description of the screening tool, including a sample of the tool and evidence of validation, including, but not limited to, a description of those populations, age groups, languages, and ethnicities for which the tools are validated.
• A list of the type of individuals and their credentials, who are qualified to conduct the screening.
  
• A list of the type of individuals and their credentials, who are qualified to interpret the screening.
  
• A narrative explanation of how the tool satisfies these requirements set forth in the rule.
  
• If the petitioner has a business interest in the tool, a disclosure of such interest.
  
• The petitioner's name, address, and phone number and, if the petitioner has a business interest in the tool, complete contact information for the business.
  
• Any additional information the petitioner wishes to include.
  

Persons who may be administering screenings in schools to a child as a result of the screening not being recorded on the Certificate of Child Health Examination form shall minimally be:

• A licensed clinical social worker
• A licensed clinical psychologist
  
• A licensed physician
  
• A licensed APRN
  
• A licensed physician assistant
  

Refer to Section 664.110 of the Administrative Code for these requirements. Please note that separate from what is recorded on the Certificate of Child Health Examination form, many schools in Illinois offer social-emotional, mental health, or behavioral health screenings to students universally or as needed as part of their own policy and procedure. Screenings of this nature offered to students by schools are not governed by IDPH or the Certificate of Child Health Examination form and are not subject to administration by the persons listed above. These in-school screening tools are often self-administered by the student or are administered by parent or school personnel.

Completion of a screening is to be recorded on the Certificate of Child Health Examination form in conjunction with the school physical form within one year prior to entering kindergarten or the first grade of any public, private, or parochial elementary school; upon entering the sixth and ninth grades of any public, private, or parochial school; prior to entrance into any public, private, or parochial preschool; and, irrespective of grade, immediately prior to or upon entrance into any public, private, or parochial school or preschool. Refer to Section 664.120 of the Administrative Code for these requirements.

Each child may present proof of having been screened to the local school authority in accordance with Section 27-8.1(2.5) of the School Code before October 15 of the school year in which screening is required to be recorded. A notation of whether or not the social-emotional and developmental screening was completed shall be recorded on the forms IDPH and the Illinois State Board of Education prescribed for statewide use. The required form is the Certificate of Child Health Examination provided by IDPH. Refer to Section 664.130 of the Administrative Code for these requirements.

A child shall not be excluded from school if a health care provider does not complete the social-emotional or developmental screening portion of the Certificate of Child Health Examination form.

• Attendance Works
• All Kids
• CDC: Adolescent & School Health
• CDC: BMI Calculator
• Ever Thrive Illinois
• Health Care Provider Updates for Certificate of Child Health Examination Form (2024)
• IDPH Infectious Disease Reporting
• Illinois Association of School Nurses
• Illinois School Based Health Alliance
• Illinois State Board of Education School Health
• Illinois Terrorism Task Force: Mental Health & School Violence, the important mental health work being done in SBHC
• School Based Health Alliance

• Certificate of Child Health Examination
• Certificate of Child Health Examination (En Español)
• Certificate of Child Health Exam Memo

• Child Health Examination Code
• School Health Center Standards

• Fall 2022 School Immunization Requirements
• Meningococcal Memo for School Health Officials
• School Nurse Toolkit
• IL Proclamation - 2018 School Health Center Awareness Month
• School Health Center Standards (Printer-Friendly)
• IDPH School Health Listing of Communicable Diseases
• Diabetes Risk Assessment Flow Chart
• Certified School Health Centers
• School Health Centers Map - Chicago 2018
• School Health Centers Map - Illinois 2018
• State Seal Use on Electronic Health Records