Safe and Healthy Schools Resources
The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce and Workforce supports a whole-child approach designed to meet students' social-emotional, physical and safety needs, in addition to their academics. Ohio's Evidence-based Clearinghouse includes evidence-based interventions, strategies and programs to support the whole child.The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce and Workforce aims to increase student achievement through improving language and literacy outcomes for all students. Ohio's Evidence-based Clearinghouse includes strategies and programs to support evidence-based teaching and learning.
More Resources
The resources below provide helpful context to consider as you explore strategies related to healthy schools and prevention. You can also contact your State Support Team for support understanding the current context of healthy schools and prevention and in selecting and implementing
State Plans and Frameworks
These resources include Ohio's state agencies' strategic plans and frameworks that inform the field of prevention and support healthy schools.
Ohio’s Whole Child Framework places the whole child at the center, with district, school, family and community supporting the needs of the whole child using a comprehensive approach. A whole child approach broadens district and school focus beyond academics to include meeting students' social-emotional, physical and safety needs. It is a student-centered approach that emphasizes the role of families and the community in providing safe environments and rich learning experiences. Whole child strategies include providing integrated student supports, fostering relationship-centered learning environments and coordinating policies, systems and practices. Check out Ohio's Whole Child Framework Infographic to view all of the components of Ohio's Whole Child Framework.
Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS)
A Multi-tiered System of Supports (MTSS) is an educational framework for meeting the varied needs of students. Originally construed as a way to identify students with learning disabilities and called Response to Intervention (RTI or RtI), MTSS provides a way to decide when to offer interventions with varying levels of intensity. According to the National Center for Learning Disabilities (2016, para. 1), “students’ progress is closely monitored at each stage of intervention to determine the need for further research-based instruction and/or intervention in general education, in special education, or both.”
The Whole Child Start Up Guide for School Leaders provides guidance on how to implement Whole Child Framework through a continuous improvement process. The guide provides information on implementation of systemic practices for whole child education through the lens of the Ohio Improvement Process; however, the information provided can be transferred to any continuous improvement process schools and districts use to plan, implement and evaluate policies, programs and practices.
Future Forward Ohio encompasses the state’s strategic priorities for helping students recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the District and School Student Recovery Dashboards illustrate, the road to full recovery continues.
The Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (OhioMHAS) was established in 2013 when the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services and the Ohio Department of Mental Health merged to become a single department. As a single state department, OhioMHAS is ensuring all Ohioans have access to mental health and substance use prevention, treatment, and recovery services in their homes, communities, and high-quality facilities.
The 2020-2022 State Health Improvement Plan (SHIP) is Ohio’s roadmap to address the many challenges identified in the 2019 State Health Assessment (SHA). Given the scope and complexity of Ohio’s health challenges, the SHIP calls for cross-sector partnerships and alignment to meet a manageable set of measurable goals.
With nearly one-third of adults in Ohio affected by symptoms of anxiety or depression, and five people dying by suicide every day, now is the time for action.1 Ohio is dedicated to becoming a leader in suicide prevention. Committed stakeholders from across the state are working together to prevent suicide—to combat stigma, improve help-seeking behaviors, and save lives.
Practice Supports
These guidance documents and organizations provide additional insights on prevention and social-emotional development.
OhioMHAS Prevention Guidance Document
Prevention in Ohio is grounded in the public health model, which focuses on improving the well-being of populations. Public health draws on a science base that is multi-disciplinary and engages the entire community through the social-ecological model. Prevention aims to reduce underlying risk factors that increase the likelihood of mental, emotional and behavioral health disorders (MEB) and simultaneously to promote protective factors to decrease MEB health disorders. MEB health disorders include but are not limited to: substance use disorders, mental illness, suicide, problem gambling, etc.
Ohio Model Student Assistance Program (SAP) Manual
As part of the Ohio School Wellness Initiative, Ohio’s Model Student Assistance Program was developed on a strong foundation of guiding principles to ensure that all services, supports, and processes are collaborative, equitable, sustainable, and systematic in nature. A strong SAP ensures that everyone’s voice is heard and relies on partnerships among schools, community partners, students, and families. Equally important is a solid focus on professional development and staff wellness, as we know that staff who are well themselves will be in a better position to support their students’ wellness.
SAMHSA's Selecting Best-Fit Programs and Practices
Substance misuse and related behavioral health problems such as injury, addiction, and overdose are pressing personal and public health concerns. To successfully address these problems in states, tribes, jurisdictions, and communities, prevention planners need information about the effectiveness of available programs and practices. They also need to know how to determine which options have the greatest potential to work well in their unique settings and how to proceed if no viable options are available.
National Commission on Social, Emotional and Academic Development – Nation at Hope
Today’s youth must navigate a complex, economically competitive, and globally connected world. Yet the nation’s predominant approach to PreK-12 education fails to fully prepare students for this future. From the schoolhouse to the state house, we have emphasized the academic skills our students need. But overwhelming evidence demands that we complement the focus on academics with the development of the social and emotional skills and competencies that are equally essential for students to thrive in school, career, and life.
Other Prevention Clearinghouses
Search for additional interventions and strategies by utilizing these state and national prevention clearinghouses.
Miami University’s Ohio Quality & Effective Practice Registry
The Center for School Based Mental Health Programs (CSBMHP) and the Ohio Mental Health Network for School Success (OMHNSS) are working to identify and evaluate successful programs for meeting the behavioral needs of students and ultimately improving student academic achievement.
SAMHSA's Evidence-Based Practices Resource Center
SAMHSA is committed to improving prevention, treatment, and recovery support services for mental and substance use disorders. The Evidence-Based Practices Resource Center provides communities, clinicians, policy-makers and others with the information and tools to incorporate evidence-based practices into their communities or clinical settings.
SAMHSA's Finding Evidence-Based Programs and Practices
A Review of Environmental-based Community Interventions at NIAAA presents characteristics of community-level interventions and reviews evidence that such measures can help reduce alcohol use and related problems among both youth and adults.
Office of Juvenile Justice Model Programs
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s (OJJDP’s) Model Programs Guide (MPG) contains information about evidence-based juvenile justice and youth prevention, intervention, and reentry programs. It is a resource for practitioners and communities about what works, what is promising, and what does not work in juvenile justice, delinquency prevention, and child protection and safety.