The purpose of this study was to conduct a program evaluation of an online mental health literacy curriculum for K-12. In addition, the study established the next steps for professional development concerning mental health literacy for staff based on the findings. This study was guided by research questions: 1. How much knowledge has been gained…

Asthma imposes tremendous burden on children, families, and society. Successful management requires coordinated care among children, families, health providers, and schools. Building Bridges for Asthma Care Program, a school-centered program to coordinate care for successful asthma management, was developed, implemented, and evaluated. The program…

Realist evaluation (RE) is increasingly adopted to assess the effectiveness of social programs. RE goes beyond measurement of outcomes, providing insight into how and why programs work by focusing on how participants experience and respond to programs within certain contexts. A RE was conducted on Healthy Start-Départ Santé (HSDS), an early…

Purpose: This exploratory study evaluated how youth healthy eating (HE) and physical activity (PA) behaviors could be influenced by a whole-of-school program, which was transformed to a virtual setting at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors investigated how students experienced programming and the role of students' perceptions of…

This evaluation investigated the implementation and outcomes of Be You over the period July 2021 to June 2023, undertaken by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). The focus of this evaluation was on implementation processes, the Be You workforce, and the experiences of Be You users -- the pre-service and current educators who…

Recognizing the need for education that addresses social emotional and mental health issues faced by adults, Extension developed two different types of programs. Michigan State University (MSU) Extension developed the RELAX: Alternatives to Anger program (RELAX) to address anger management, and West Virginia University (WVU) Extension created…

This is the second of three annual reports evaluating the implementation and effects of two Delaware weighted funding programs for disadvantaged K-12 schools during the 2019-2020 to 2021-2022 school years: Opportunity Funding and the Student Success Block Grant (SSBG). The authors also examined best practices and coronavirus pandemic adaptations…

This report is the fourth in a series describing the RAND Corporation's evaluation of the two Delaware weighted funding programs for disadvantaged K-12 schools spanning the 2019-2020 to 2021-2022 school years: Opportunity Funding and the Student Success Block Grant. The authors drew on annual surveys of Delaware local education agencies (LEAs)…

There are growing concerns over young people's mental health, the academic pressures they face, and the association between school-related stress and health. Given this, alongside the known benefits of physical activity for psychological health, the need for school-based interventions with a physical activity focus seems justified. This paper…

The focus of this report is on mental health interventions delivered in K-12 neighborhood public schools. A vast array of commercially available programs, conceptual frameworks, and approaches to school-based mental health are not unanimously recommended, applied, or agreed upon. This poses a challenge to any comprehensive description or…

Recent literature has usefully explored the application of complexity theory to evaluation. However, there is little discussion of the contextual conditions in applying complexity theory. Drawing upon a single complexity-consistent public health programme evaluation and subsequent policy decisions, this paper considers how programme framing and…

Background: There is a lack of health promotion programming designed to change the physical activity environment of the group home setting. The Menu-Choice programme assists staff in creating physical activity goals alongside residents with intellectual disabilities and provides strategies to incorporate activity into the group home schedule. The…

This report is the first of three annual reports evaluating the implementation and effects of two newly expanded Delaware weighted education funding programs, the Opportunity Fund and the Student Success Block Grant (SSBG). The Opportunity Fund provides two streams of financial support--a flexible fund for local education agencies (LEAs) to fund…

As the nation transitions from responding to the height of the COVID-19 pandemic to navigating its ongoing impact on youth and their communities, K-12 students continue to experience mental health and wellbeing challenges. In the fall of 2021, Redwood City School District (RCSD) placed a full-time, district-employed mental health counselor in each…

This study tested an integrated package for high-quality school mental health (SMH) services involving quality assessment and improvement, family engagement and empowerment, modular evidence-based practice, and implementation support. Within a two-year randomized controlled trial, 35 clinicians, who provided services to 529 students and their…