Wellness Priority in ACSIP Common Questions: School Health Index & Wellness Priority in ACSIP

Purpose of Health & Wellness in ACSIP Improve the health and academic performance of students Address nutrition, education and physical fitness for the development of lifelong healthy lifestyle habits for: Students Staff Parents and the community Create a safe and healthy school environment that supports learning

Act 1220 of 2003 An act to create a child health advisory committee; To coordinate statewide efforts to combat childhood obesity and related illnesses; To improve the health of the next generation of Arkansans. Require schools to assemble a wellness committee. Require schools to complete Modules 1, 2, 3, 4, and 8 of the School Health Index (nutrition, physical activity, and tobacco health topic questions). Require goals and objectives for nutrition and physical activity be incorporated into the annual school planning and reporting process.

Modules = CSH Components School Health and Safety Policies and Environment Health Education Physical Education and Other Physical Activity Programs Nutrition Services School Health Services School Counseling, Psychological, and Social Services Health Promotion for Staff Family and Community Involvement

Implementing the SHI Assemble your wellness committee Complete SHI Modules Develop goals and objectives in school improvement plan (Indistar)

School Health Index To complete the SHI on paper, print these PDF forms. Recommended: To complete the SHI online, click here.

Getting Started To create a new team. To access your team SHI, enter your reference number.

Creating a New Team Enter a minimum of four to five team member email addresses. Give your team a name and then select whether this assessment is for a specific school or the district. Then click “look up district ID”, which will take you to a separate page where you can enter your school name and city to receive your school and district ID. If you have trouble with accessing your district or school ID, you can change your assessment type to “This assessment is not associated with a specific district/school”. Make sure to add multiple team members email addresses. Once the team is created, all members added to the list will receive an email with the reference number. SAVE THIS EMAIL! This will ensure that someone on your wellness committee will always have the reference number.

Now you have your reference number and you can log-in. Now that you have your reference number, you can log-in to begin the School Health Index.

To access the module scorecard and to add actions for this module.

This is the Module Scorecard for Module 1 This is the Module Scorecard for Module 1. There is an option to print this page. Part of the Supplemental Compliance Report submission will be a scorecard for each of the five required modules. This scorecard provides a snapshot of the strengths and weaknesses your wellness committee identified for this particular topic.

If you scroll down that page, you’ll see there is a place for your team to add strengths, weaknesses, and recommended actions. These actions will help you when you get to the Plan for Improvement, so it is recommended that your team consider adding an action based on your module scorecard results. You’ll be able to prioritize these actions later.

Overall Scorecard To access the overall scorecard. Now that you’ve completed all five Modules, you can now see the overall scorecard. This Score Card provides a snapshot of the scores received on all of the modules that were completed and allows the school health team to see an overall picture of the strengths and weaknesses of the school’s health policies and programs. It will assist them in determining which areas are most in need of improvement. The Overall Scorecard is another component of question six in the Supplemental Compliance Report submission. There is an option to Export the overall scorecard into a Microsoft Word document.

Plan for Improvement** To access the Plan for Improvement If the SHI team has broken into smaller groups to complete the self-assessment modules, each module group will present two or three actions that it believes should be implemented first based on its assessment. The wellness committee as a whole will be who determines the number of actions selected. The SHI team will then select a manageable number of actions to address. Generally, it is recommended that the team select no more than three to five actions for the next school year. The actions that are not selected can be kept on a list to address in future school years. Finally, the team will complete the action plan. The School Health Improvement Plan asks for the SHI team to identify priority actions, list specific steps that need to be taken to implement each action, and designate who will be responsible for each step. Assigning tasks increases accountability, making team members more likely to follow through with their tasks. It is important to be as specific as possible when listing the steps to complete an action. Click to see the actions your team selected for each module.

Keep in Mind… Answer questions as accurately as possible. This is a self-help tool, not an instrument for punishing staff. There is no passing grade. This is designed to help you understand your school, not to compare your school with other schools. You should EXPECT to get at least some low scores. Low scores can help you build awareness of areas needing improvement. While completing the modules, it is important to keep a few things in mind. First, answer all questions as accurately as possible. The SHI is a self-help tool designed solely to help you understand your school’s environment. There is no such thing as a passing grade, and your scores are not intended to be compared among schools. Also, low scores should be expected. These scores will help you build awareness of areas that need improvement.

What are the keys to success? School health champion (strong leadership) Administrative buy-in Team representation, cohesion, and commitment Clear, organized, and well-facilitated process Starting with small, achievable goals Highlighting and build on successes There is no single way to implement the SHI. Schools have developed many approaches, and you need to find the approach that best meets your school’s needs. Regardless of the approach a school uses, we have found that there are some important keys to success in the SHI process. The identity of the school health champion will vary from school to school. Whoever this individual is, his or her leadership and commitment can help maintain the momentum to get the SHI process going and ensure that the team follows through with the action plan. Gaining support from school administrators before you begin greatly improves commitment to the process of completing the SHI and following through with the action plan. Remember, the SHI should always be a group effort: the strength of the process comes from having individuals from different parts of the school community sit down together and plan ways to work towards improving school policies and programs. It is important to ensure that the team is representative of the school and local communities and that the team members are committed to making a difference in the lives of your school’s students. It is important to have a clear, organized, and well-facilitated process and to start with small, achievable goals.

District and School Level Forms 1. located at the specific log in 2. located under the Complete Forms Tab 3. templates that are options to meet requirements

Optional health and wellness data ideas… Arkansas Prevention Needs Assessment (APNA) Vision and hearing School-based Health Center data School-based Mental Health Services data Anything health related that has an affect on a student’s ability to learn!

Questions? Arkansas Department of Education Office of School Health Services Anna Haver Act 1220 Coordinator anna.haver@arkansas.gov (501) 682-3733 http://www.arkansased.gov/divisions/learning-services/school-health-services