1. 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

2. 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.

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

4. 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

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. 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?