An Overview of DASH’s Approach to Safe and Supportive Environments Welcome everyone!! I’m Riley Steiner, a Health Scientist in DASH and one of your presenters for this session. We’re really glad to have this opportunity to present an overview of Strategy 2C: Safe and Supportive Environments or SSE. Riley J. Steiner, MPH, PhD Health Scientist, CDC’s Division of Adolescent and School Health Healthy Students, Promising Futures Learning Collaborative December 5, 2018

DASH’s Missions The Division of Adolescent and School Health (DASH) works to promote environments where youth can gain the health knowledge, skills, and healthy behaviors, connect to health services, and avoid becoming pregnant or infected with HIV or STDs.

DASH’s Current Funded Program -Will note that this is just one component—with funding to LEAs for school-based HIV/STD prevention

Common Domains Increase Student Access to Programs and Services Strengthen Staff Capacity Increase Student Access to Programs and Services Engage Parent and Community Partners First, I wanted to re-emphasize this framework for the Component 2 work that cuts across the three strategies of SHE, SHS, and SSE. The point is that for each strategy, including SSE, we have activities related to strengthening staff capacity, increasing student access to program and services, and engaging parents and community partners. We’re highlighting this framework as a well to help you think about the work and identify potential opportunities to work across the three strategies. Sexual Health Education Sexual Health Services Safe and Supportive Environments

SSE Required Activities Domains Activities Strengthen staff capacity Provide professional development to teachers on classroom management annually Provide professional development to all school staff on supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth annually Increase student access to programs and services Implement mentoring, service learning, and/or other positive youth development programs for students and/or connect students to such community-based programs Establish or enhance student-led clubs that support LGBT youth (often known as Gay-Straight Alliances or Genders and Sexualities Alliances) Engage parent and/or community partners Disseminate resources to parents/caregivers on parental monitoring and parent-adolescent communication (generally and specifically about sex) For SSE here are the required activities for each domain. I’m sure you’re familiar with these at this point! I wanted to highlight the icons which we’ve used in the program guidance to flag “opportunities for efficiency” where you might be able to leverage work across the strategies. For example, SHE PD may address classroom management and PYD programs may be implemented in the context of SHE. We’ll highlight additional opportunities throughout the presentation.

SSE Intermediate Outcomes School connectedness Parental monitoring Parent-adolescent communication general Parent-adolescent communication about sex Sexual risk behaviors Substance use Violence Mental health problems What are the specific family and school factors that we’re addressing with SSE? Well they are reflected in the SSE intermediate outcomes which are to: [Walk through each] We know from research that these factors are considered to be protective factors and they are associated with reductions in sexual risk. Importantly they are also associated with reductions in the other domains of risk DASH is interested in both because the substantial morbidity and even mortality associated with these domains and their contributions to sexual risk.

Professional Development: Classroom Management For teachers Annually Knowledge and skills related to best practices Emphasis on consequences vs. punishment Specific considerations for sexual health education Classroom Management Best Practices Establish rules, routines and expectations Reinforce positive behavior through praise Enforce consequences for misbehavior consistently Maximize structure Foster student engagement by including opportunities for active student participation Now we’d just like to emphasize some pieces about content and implementation that you’ve learned from reviewing the program guidance, starting with PD on classroom management. Classroom management is “the process by which teachers and schools create and maintain appropriate behavior of students in classroom settings”. Professional development (PD) on classroom management should be implemented for teachers annually and focus on knowledge and skills related to best practices, listed In box. These include the best practices listed here and in the guidance. Appropriate classroom management emphasizes consequences, which are a logical outcome for inappropriate action that helps students learn from poor behavior, instead of punishment, which is an unpleasant outcome that is not necessarily connected to the inappropriate. Practices and strategies for effective classroom management are relevant to teachers of all subject areas. However, sexual health education teachers may need to pay particular attention to setting and enforcing classroom rules and expectations given the potential for inappropriate behavior associated with discussing sensitive topics so recipients may want to have some dedicated or intensive PD for these teachers.

Professional Development: Supporting LGBT Youth For all school staff Annually Knowledge about: Concepts of sexual orientation and gender identity, including language Health risks faced by LGBT youth Effects of the school environment on the health of LGBT youth Supportive school policies and practices (e.g., gay-straight alliances, safe spaces, inclusive curricula, LGBT-friendly health services) Unique needs of transgender and gender diverse students Key skills (e.g., bystander intervention) The next PD activity is on supporting LGBT youth. The audience for this activity is all school staff, including teachers, administrators, support staff, etc., and as with PD on classroom management the expectation is that it’s delivered annually. This PD should cover topics listed on the slide: State In addition to increasing knowledge, professional development should enhance relevant skills. For example, given that LGBT are more likely to experience bullying, harassment, and violence compared to their heterosexual and cisgender peers, it is imperative that school staff have bystander intervention skills combined with a willingness to act on them. http://www.apa.org/pi/lgbt/programs/safe-supportive/training/respect-workshop.aspx

Student Programs: Establish or Strengthen GSAs GSA programming Provide opportunities for socialization and group support Deliver information/resources Facilitate student advocacy GSA inclusivity GSA faculty advisors So now shifting to student program and GSAs, which stands for gay-straight alliance or genders and sexualities alliance. GSA programming generally fits into three domains: [State] A defining characteristic of GSAs is their aim to connect LGBT youth with supportive heterosexual/cisgender allies. An inclusive, respectful environment is thus essential. GSAs should be welcoming to transgender and gender non-conforming students as well as racial/ethnic minorities. Concerted programmatic effectors are warranted in this regard given outstanding questions about the extent to which GSAs meet the needs of multiple groups. The role of the faculty advisor(s) and relationship between advisors and student members is critical so specific professional development may be needed for these staff. For schools that already have GSAs, the green box highlights activities that could be implemented to strengthen those GSAs, such as fostering collaboration between GSAs and youth-serving organizations in the community. https://www.gsanetwork.org/resources/building-your-gsa

Positive Youth Development Student Programs: Implement or Connect to Positive Youth Development (PYD) Programs Positive Youth Development An intentional, prosocial approach Engages youth Recognizes, utilizes, and enhances young people’s strengths Provides opportunities, fosters positive relationships, and furnishes the support needed to build on their leadership strengths Program types Mentorship programs Service learning programs Traditional curriculum-based programs Program settings Schools (school-based) Community-based organizations (linkage and referral) Clinics (linkage and referral) Thanks, Michelle! The second activity related to increasing student access to programs is positive-youth development. The key components of PYD are highlighted in the orange box. A recent review of school-based PYD programs suggests three main program types: curriculum-based methods; mentorship programs; and youth leadership/service learning programs PYD program can also occur in a variety of settings—schools community, clinics. Delivery in schools would align with a school-based approach in which the implementation is led by the schools. Students could be connected to programs in the community or clinic through a linkage and referral approach.

Engage Parents: Disseminate Information on Positive Parenting Practices Parental monitoring Parent-adolescent communication generally Parent-adolescent communication about sex Content Key definitions and explanations Brief summary of benefits Challenges and potential solutions Key action steps Semi-annually Now the final activity involves engaging parents through disseminating information on positive parenting practices. We’re specifically asking you to focus on three parenting practices that Leah introduced as intermediate outcomes. As a reminder, these are: Parental monitoring Parent-adolescent communication generally Parent-adolescent communication about sex Dissemination materials about these topics should address both knowledge and skills. Specifically, information should include: key definitions and explanations of the concept(s); a brief summary of its benefits as well as challenges to implementation and potential solutions; and key actions steps for parents to strengthen the practice. As outlined in the NOFO, these resources should be distributed semi-annually. CDC has some materials on these topics that I’ve highlighted here. https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/protective/positiveparenting.htm

Thank you! Questions? rsteiner@cdc.gov That was a lot of information in a short amount of time! Before we ask you to apply it to thinking about next steps, are there any clarifying questions about these points of the program guidance?