Make a fresh start with this back-to-school session with new tools & on-demand training
Washington, D.C. – August 26, 2021 – The Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE) in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Healthy Schools Branch launch a new website dedicated to school health professionals and supporting school staff to kick off the 2021 fall semester.
The website includes training, tools, and resources for both pre-service and in-service health and education professionals, including the new Model Toolkit for K-12 School Health Educators and the School Health Education Teacher Preparation Model Guidance. Also featured are digital recordings of workshops held earlier this year on topics such as tips for integrating the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) model, and using the Health Education Curriculum Analysis Tool (HECAT) to support the delivery and impact of school health education.
“With teachers still dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic and hybrid teaching, we wanted to provide a convenient, one-stop-shop for K-12 teachers, administrators, state/local health and education personnel, and higher education faculty,” says SOPHE President Dr. Deborah Fortune. “This website integrates the latest resources from the CDC Healthy Schools Branch and other authoritative scientific sources to provide what’s new, what’s needed, and what works in school health.”
The Model Toolkit for K-12 School Health Educators equips health education teachers and other school staff with useful tips and links to: CDC’s Essential Tools for Healthy Schools, School Data, Curriculum Tools including HECAT 2021, School Health and Wellness Tools. SOPHE’s award-winning resources for in-service training and professional development, pointers for hybrid and online teaching, and links to the latest federal guidance on keeping students and staff safe during COVID-19 are also found in the toolkit.
The School Health Education Teacher Preparation Model Guidance provides recommendations for faculty to strengthen and enhance the quality of their baccalaureate health education teacher preparation (HETE) programs. The fully interactive resource allows users to navigate from “Characteristics of a High-Quality Health Education Teacher Preparation Program” to “Health Education Teacher Education Standards” to “Sample Course Materials” and more resources provided by leaders in the school health education field.
“Professional development opportunities are essential to the success of in-service teachers, future health education teachers, faculty, and staff,” says Holly Hunt, chief of CDC’s Healthy Schools Branch. “Now more than ever, these dedicated professionals need the latest tools and resources from credible sources to meet the challenging health education and social and emotional needs of students and staff.”
The SOPHE School Health website and the newly available resources were influenced by the SOPHE/CDC Digital Institute for Higher Education Academy, held earlier this year. Full-time faculty and program coordinators from 10 institutions spanning Alabama, Connecticut, Hawaii, Michigan, Mississippi, New York, and West Virginia participated in the three-day workshop, with action plans to strengthen their universities’ health education teacher preparation programs.
All content on SOPHE’s new school health website is accessible and downloadable for free. Log in or create a MySOPHE account today. Save the date for the upcoming webinar, COVID-19 Classroom Chat: RE-Adapting to the Classroom in 2021, on October 18 during National Health Education Week. For more information about SOPHE School Health, contact: Info@sophe.org
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About SOPHE
The Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE) is a 501 (c)(3) professional organization founded in 1950 to support leaders in health education and promotion to advance healthy and equitable communities across the globe. SOPHE contributes to the health of all people and the elimination of health disparities through advances in health education theory and research; excellence in professional preparation and practice; and advocacy for public policies conducive to health. For more information, see www.sophe.org
SOPHE/CDC 1802 Cooperative Agreement
This project was supported by Cooperative Agreement Number NU38OT000315, funded by the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Division of Population Health, Healthy Schools Branch, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the Department of Health and Human Services.
