An article in the special September 2016 issue of the Journal for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) discusses the characteristics of local supporting municipal/school district infrastructure to support school-baszed and school-linked health promotion and sustainable development. "The article aims to explore the following question: ‘How is education for sustainable development and health education in schools approached and contextualized at a municipal level, and what contradictions and tensions might local structures imply for sustainable health promoting school development?’ Based on interviews with key agents at the municipal level in Denmark and drawing on a knowledge exchange network, the article identifies and discusses the following three themes across education for sustainable development and health education: (i) autonomy, engagement and ownership; (ii) open frameworks and invitations to ‘run with the ball’; and (iii) ad hoc professional development. A main conclusion in the article is that local approaches are largely based on plurality and voluntarism, and are formed around enthusiasts. There is a risk that this framework becomes so flexible that it ‘falls apart’ in the balance between rigidity and flexibility. " This finding is typical of the approach often used at the school level, where initial and on-going efforts are almost always dependent on finding and keeping a local "champion" (who usually burns out, move on or gets promoted to another position without any clear plan for succession. Read more>> (This item is among the 5-10 highlights posted for ISHN members each week from the ISHN Member information service. Click on the web link to join this service and to support ISHN)
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(From the ISHN Member information service) As we learn more about the sustainability of multi-intervention approaches and programs, we are seeing the development of various techniques to measure and monitor such sustainability. An article in Issue #2, 2014 of School Psychology Quarterly reports o the development of "the School-Wide Universal Behavior Sustainability Index: School Teams (SUBSIST; McIntosh, Doolittle, Vincent, Horner, & Ervin, 2009) a measure of school and district contextual factors that promote the sustainability of school practices, demonstrated measurement invariance across groups of schools that differed in length of time implementing school-wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS; Sugai & Horner, 2009), student ethnic composition, and student socioeconomic status (SES). School PBIS team members and district coaches representing 860 schools in 14 U.S. states completed the SUBSIST. Findings supported strong measurement invariance, for all items except 1, of a model with two school-level factors (School Priority and Team Use of Data) and 2 district-level factors (District Priority and Capacity Building) across groups of schools at initial implementation, institutionalization, and sustainability phases of PBIS implementation. Schools in the sustainability phase were rated significantly higher on School Priority and Team Use of Data than schools in initial implementation." Read more>>
(From the ISHN Member information service) An article in the May 2014 issue of the Journal of School Health reports on the factors that contribute to program sustainability in a school after a research project (with additional funding for the school) is completed. The researchers report that " This study examined the sustainability of New Moves, a school-based program aimed at decreasing weight-related problems in adolescent girls. Ten schools participated in the sustainability study. Teachers completed a survey and interview, and research staff observed 1 physical education (PE) class within 2 years of the study's completion. All schools continued all-girls PE classes using New Moves components following the study period. Fewer schools continued the nutrition and social support classroom modules and individual coaching sessions while no schools continued lunch get-togethers. Program components were sustained in both New Moves intervention schools and control schools. Programs are most likely to be sustained if they (1) fit into the current school structure, (2) receive buy-in by teachers, and (3) require minimal additional funds or staff time. Providing control schools with minimal training and intervention resources was sufficient to continue program components if staff perceived the program was important. Read more>>
(An item from the ISHN Member information service) An article in the February 2014 issue of Public Health Nutrition reports on the use of the RE-AIM implementation model was used to monitorreach, effect, implementation and maintenance of two different streams of an elementary school nutrition education program. Most noteworthy is that "Thirty-seven per cent of third-grade teachers in the dissemination sample reordered SMC materials during the subsequent school year thereby reporting on the likely maintenance of the program after the trial. The authors also noted that "Results In the evaluation sample, differences between the control and intervention groups were observed for nutrition knowledge, self-efficacy, outcome expectancies, and intakes of vegetables, fruit (girls only), soda, and low-nutrient high-energy foods from pre- to post-survey. Group differences in change in knowledge, outcome expectancies and vegetable intake were sustained through the 3-month follow-up (efficacy). One hundred per cent of intervention teachers in the evaluation sample implemented all of the lessons (implementation). The dissemination sample represented 42 % of third-grade students (reach) and 39 % of third-grade classrooms in public elementary schools in California during 2010–2011 (adoption)." The value of this RE-AIM framework is that it provides an indication of likely ongoing uptake of this program without any specific funding or technical support. Consequently, the authors conclude that the program demonstrates a moderate to high potential impact. Read more>>
(An item taken from the daily/weekly/monthly ISHN Member information service) Several articles in Issue #3, 2012 of Policy Studies Journal examine how informal social networks within and across government ministries as well as among organizations and sectors can affect policy development. Five of the articles discuss how to track the influence of these networks within systems using various statistical analysis tools. One article examines how such networks can be used in rebuilding communities after disasters and another examines inter-organizational cooperation via networks or competition during economic development programs. These informal social networks are one of the characteristics that need to be considered when pursuing systems change and sustainability. Read more..
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