DOCTOR OF EDUCATION DISSERTATION PROPOSAL PRESENTATION

 Intensive Study Area: Educational Leadership

Monday, October 17, 2016, 9:00 AM, room 1060 Bartlett Hall

Jamie L.R. Sebring 

IS IOWA MAKING THE GRADE? An assessment of K-12 health education programs

in public schools

DISSERTATIONCOMMITTEE: • Dr. Timothy Gilson, Chair

• Dr. Ripley Marston, Member

• Dr. Nicholas Pace, Member• Dr. Denise Schares,

Member

OVERVIEW:• PROBLEM

• History of Health Education• Coordinated School Health Program• Health Literacy• The Role of Health Education in

Schools

• CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK• PURPOSE• JUSTIFICATION• METHODOLOGY

PROBLEM

Health educators remain focused on supporting health literacy for all U.S. citizens and strive to increase the number of health-literate citizens.

In 1993, the Health Education Assessment Project (HEAP, 2014) first identified the problems involved in preparing teachers to implement and practice effective instructional methods to teach health.

PROBLEM1. HISTORY OF HEALTH EDUCATION

2. COORDINATED SCHOOL HEALTH PROGRAM

3. HEALTH LITERACY

4. HEALTH EDUCATION IN SCHOOLS

• During the 1700s in America, some headmasters of schools encouraged “healthy practices”.

• Some headmasters encouraged healthy practices, yet did not enforce the multiple concepts of health education into the curriculum.

Allensworth, 1997

1. HISTORY OF

HEALTH EDUCATION

• 1840 Rhode Island passed a law that stated health education would be mandatory in the curriculum. Other states soon followed.

• Around 1860, schools began health inspections and requiring vaccinations for students entering school (Means, 1975).

• School nurses began to emerge in the schools in the early 1900s.

• Early 20th century the Temperance Movement impacted health education by influencing the negative impact of alcohol, tobacco and drugs on the human body (Allenworth, 1997).

1. HISTORY OF

HEALTH EDUCATION

• Pre World War I health instruction included topics on: alcohol, tobacco, and drugs on the human body, personal hygiene and human physiology.

• Post World War I health instruction became a turning point for modern health education.

• Topics included personal health habits, nutrition, diseases, exercise, alcohol and tobacco, family health, and sex education.

Allensworth, 1997

1. HISTORY OF

HEALTH EDUCATION

What it is…• The Coordinated School Health

Program (CSHP) is a collaboration of policies and activities designed to promote the health of students, faculty, and staff.

• Examples: a healthy school environment, school counseling, physical education, school nutritional services, community and family involvement, and health promotion for faculty.

Joint Council on National Health Education Standards, 2007

2. COORDINATED

SCHOOL HEALTH PROGRAM

Working together to improve health educationThe significance of the health of the teaching force became recognized so teachers would be able to cope with the demands of the job so they could better serve as role models of health and vigor for their students.

Means, 1975

2. COORDINATED

SCHOOL HEALTH PROGRAM

Eight essential components

1. Health education2. Health services (school linked)3. School environment4. Physical education & activity5. Counseling & social services6. Food service program7. Worksite health promotion for

staff8. Integration of community resources

Kolbe & Allensworth, 1987

2. COORDINATED

SCHOOL HEALTH PROGRAM

Health Literacy Skills include…

1. Health information communication.2. Literacy and health as social and cultural practices.3. Relationship among health information, literacy, and behavior.4. Impact of the Internet on the use of health information.  

Davis, Williams, Marin, Parker & Glass, 2002

3. HEALTH

LITERACY

Types of Health Literacy• Functional health literacy—

basic reading and writing skills to understand and follow simple health messages.

• Interactive health literacy—more advanced literacy, cognitive, and interpersonal skills to manage health in partnership with professionals.

• Critical health literacy—ability to analyze information critically, increase awareness, and participate in action to address barriers.

Nutbeam, 2000

3. HEALTH

LITERACY

Why is health literacy important?• Schools provide the building

blocks of knowledge for children.

• Public school teachers are a key factor in providing information that will allow students to become rich or poor in knowledge.

• Schools are an integral part of society in order for students to become health-literate citizens.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2015

3. HEALTH

LITERACY

Comprehensive school health education is… • a planned, sequential

curriculum of experiences that promote development of health knowledge, health-related skills, and positive attitudes toward health and well-being for students in all grades.

Reniscow & Allensworth, 1996

4. HEALTH

EDUCATION IN SCHOOLS

• The curriculum presents information about disease control, personal health, environmental and community health, family life and sex education, consumer health, nutrition, fitness, safety and first aid, mental health, and substance abuse.

• A comprehensive school health education program includes activities that enhance students’ communication, decision making, and responsible self-management skills.

National Commission on Children, 1991

4. HEALTH

EDUCATION IN SCHOOLS

In reality, health education in schools may look like:

• Regions in Iowa modify content due to community beliefs about a certain concept in health education.• Financial support is shifting

away from health education because it is not a tested subject (Iowa Assessments).• Health education is “infused”

in science or physical education.

4. HEALTH

EDUCATION IN SCHOOLS

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Three elements are key when reforming a health education program that has already been established: implement the National

Health Education Standards, coordinate a School Health Program, and add the

components of curriculum, instruction, and assessment. These factors become the

foundation through which “continuous improvement, renewal, and change advancing

education toward the desired future can occur” (Dottin, 2001, p. 3).

Reforming An Established Health Education Program

• Kolbe and Allensworth (1987) stated that a comprehensive, coordinated school health program focuses on three components: health education, a healthful school environment, and health services.

Health teachers must possess a command of the baseline content in order to transfer knowledge and facilitate learning in students.

PURPOSEThe purpose of this study is to explore how well a representative sample of Iowa schools are succeeding in addressing health literacy goals. The lived experience of health teachers and health education curriculum directors, will be captured through a phenomenological, qualitative framework. Though schools should be doing more education in the arena of health, Marx, Wooley, & Northrop (1998) acknowledge that schools provide a critical facility in which many agencies might work together to maintain the well-being of young people.

In the Upper Midwest, • Not all the states

require health education for high school graduation

• How are we expected to meet the goals of Healthy People 2020 if health education is not required in schools?

JUSTIFICATION• Health educators St. Leger and Nutbeam (2000) promoted a

coordinated school health program (CSHP) as the means to achieve the goals of health literacy and public health through public school education.

• With overcrowded curricula, not much time or attention is given to health education (Pateman & Thackeray, 2002).

• The extent to which this research promotes the importance of what health teachers do may be classified as critical in nature (Rubin & Rubin, 2012). Teaching students to become health literate is very critical in this day and age.

• Fullan & Hargreaves (1996) suggest why health is important and how health organizations and governmental agencies believe that health education should be required in the core curriculum because of its importance.

METHODOLOGYQualitative Study:

 According to Denzin and Lincoln (2008), qualitative research is “a situated activity that locates the observer in the world” and qualitative researchers “study things in their natural settings, attempting to make sense of, or interpret, phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them” (p. 5).

The qualitative research method (Creswell, 2002) was selected for this study because its purpose is to explore and describe the experiences and opinions of the health teachers and curriculum directors, rather than examine quantifiable variable relationships.

METHODOLOGYPhenomenological Qualitative Study – Denzin & Lincoln, 2008

• In-depth discussions.

• Learn from the rich description of the participants lived experiences.

• Interview as primary method of data collection.

METHODOLOGYPhenomenological study:

• Focus on the meanings made of teachers’ lived experiences (Brantlinger, Jimenez, Klingner, Pugach, & Richardson, 2005; Merriam, 2009).

• Situate the researcher in the context.

• The focus of this research is to further understand the lived, phenomenological experience of health teachers and curriculum directors.

METHODOLOGYThis qualitative study will explore the perceptions and lived experiences of health educators and health education curriculum directors in Iowa.

• 8 Health Education Teachers (5+ years experience); 3 Health Education Curriculum Directors (5+ years experience)

• Semi-structured, face-to-face interviews• Transcribed• Member Check• Constant Comparison & Theme Identification• Full Confidentiality & Anonymity for participants

METHODOLOGYGeneral Starter Questions:

• Why did you choose health education (for health educator)? • How did you end up as a curriculum director in health education (for

curriculum director)?• Describe your school district’s health curriculum.• How does your district meet the Healthy People 2020 goals with

improving health literacy to all? • Could you please rate the amount of support which is provided to

you: more than adequate, appropriate, or less than adequate?  What does the support look like?

• The students in your district take the Iowa Youth Survey. Could you describe how the results of the survey are used?

• Talk to me about the types of assessment strategies that you use in your classroom.

• Describe the barriers you see negatively impact implementing health education.  

REFERENCESAllensworth, D. D., Ed. (1997). Schools & health: Our nation’s investment. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.  

Brantlinger, E., Jimenez, R., Klingner, J., Pugach, M., & Richardson, V. (2005). Qualitative studies in special education. Exceptional Children, 71(2), 195–207.

Creswell, J. W. (2002). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education Inc.

Davis, T. C., Williams, M. V., Marin, E., Parker, R. M., & Glass, J. (2002). Health literacy and cancer communication. CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, 52(3), 134–149.

Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (2008). Introduction: The discipline and practice of qualitative research. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.) Collecting and interpreting qualitative materials. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

REFERENCESDottin, E. S. (2001). Developing a conceptual framework: The stimulation for coherence and continuous improvement in teacher education. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.  

Fullan, M., & Hargreaves, A. (1996). What’s worth fighting for in our schools? New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Health Education Assessment Project. (2014). HEAP, Health Literacy. Retrieved from http://heaphealthliteracy.com/index.html

Joint Committee on National Health Education Standards (JCNHES). (2007). National health education standards: Achieving excellence. Atlanta, GA: American Cancer Society.

Kolbe, L. J., & Allensworth, D. (1987). The comprehensive school health program: Exploring an expanded concept. Journal of School Health, 57(10), 409–412.

REFERENCESMarx, E., Wooley, S., & Northrop, D. (Eds.). (1998). Health is academic: A guide to coordinated school health programs. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Means, R. K. (1975). Historical perspectives on school health. Auburn, AL: Department of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, School of Education, Auburn University.

Merriam, S. B. (2009). Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

National Commission on Children (1991). Beyond rhetoric: A new American agenda for children and families. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Nutbeam, D. (2000). Health literacy as a public health goal: A challenge for contemporary health education and communication strategies into the 21st century. Health Promotion International, 15(3), 259–267.

REFERENCESPateman, B., & Thackeray, R. (2002). Promoting health literacy through the Health Education Assessment Project. Journal of School Health, 77(4), 157–163.

Reniscow, K., & Allensworth, D. (1996). Conducting a comprehensive school health program. Journal of School Health, 66(2), 59–63.

Rubin, H. J., & Rubin, I. S. (2012). Qualitative interviewing: The art of hearing data. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

St. Leger, L., & Nutbeam, D. (2000). A model for mapping linkages between health and education agencies to improve school health. Journal of School Health, 70(2), 45–50.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2015a). Healthy People 2020. Retrieved from http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/pp-initiative/national-action-plan-improve-health-literacy

DOCTOR OF EDUCATION DISSERTATION PROPOSAL PRESENTATION

 Intensive Study Area: Educational Leadership

Monday, October 17, 2016, 9:00 AM, room 1060 Bartlett Hall

Jamie L.R. Sebring 

IS IOWA MAKING THE GRADE? An assessment of K-12 health education programs

in public schools