The Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs completed a policy analysis in February 2009 for the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) and the Ohio Department of Health’s (ODH) joint project to improve student health and education outcomes in the areas of physical activity, nutrition, tobacco use and HIV (PANT-HIV) in Ohio.The Voinovich School compared current Ohio health and wellness policies and curricula to the national K-12 standards to identify Ohio’s gaps and to provide recommendations for program integration.
Through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) funding opportunity, “Improving Health and Educational Outcomes for Young People,” ODE and ODH established the Ohio Coordinated School Health Program – HIV and Physical Activity, Nutrition, and Tobacco (CSHP-PANT) as a part of a five year partnership to improve K-12 health education outcomes and have a lasting impact on the health of students.The program works to ensure that schools not only support students academically, but socially and emotionally as well.
“Overall good health is a prerequisite to academic achievement,” stated the CSHP-PANT project abstract.
According to Barry Oches, Voinovich School Senior Research Associate, the first step for ODE and ODH to achieve the project’s goals was to recognize and address the current problems with Ohio policy, including the gaps and disparities in curriculum and policy across the state. Oches, a former school principal and curriculum director with a Ph.D. in supervision of curriculum and instruction, and Holly Raffle, Data/Research Analyst with the Voinovich School and previous health educator with a doctorate in educational research and evaluation, were awarded the contract to capitalize on their expertise in education and policy.
“There are a lot of things in place in Ohio that need to be coordinated,” said Raffle. “We at The Voinovich School are helping pull things together.”
The two began by reviewing Ohio policies, including the Ohio revised code, to gain an initial understanding of what areas were required for the current school health programs across Ohio.Their task was to examine codes, policies and programs in place or proposed using websites and databases in order to identify obvious gaps in standards, skills, and knowledge in Ohio.
“We scoured the Ohio Revised Code to find appropriate topic areas to examine,” said Oches “Then we thought ok, what is missing for school health programs?”
Comparing Ohio programs to those of other states was an important aspect of the project.In order to create the best practices in response to health and education needs of local communities the ODE and the ODH needed to understand where Ohio stood.Oches and Raffle worked to identify Ohio’s strengths and liabilities with respect to health and physical activity education programs.
When the research was complete, Raffle and Oches provided the ODE and the ODH with a manageable review of the literature, a paper examining Ohio’s and other state’s policies and a matrix of recommended necessary policy and program components.
According to Raffle, ODE and ODH are hoping to use the research and recommendations to provide state support for school district wellness programs in order to promote optimal health outcomes.
“This is a project that is very important,” said Oches, “wellness is something that you can definitely say is good for kids.”