Whole Child Resources
The Whole Child Framework provides a framework schools can use to meet the mental, behavioral, physical health, wellness, nutrition and safety needs of Ohio students. Below are links to information and resources to support schools in providing whole child supports to students. Also, the Department is developing a Whole Child Toolkit and additional resources to help districts, families and community partners address current needs.
ASCD Whole School, Whole Child, Whole Community Model
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Supporting Students in Developing Healthy Behaviors
- Social and Emotional Learning - Information about social and emotional learning and Ohio’s board adopted standards. The webpage also provides implementation resources to support social and emotional learning at the district, school and classroom levels.
- Behavioral Health and Wellness Toolkit - An inventory of evidence-based training, practices and programs across multiple behavioral topic areas, including behavior supports, harassment, intimidation and bullying prevention, mental health, trauma and more.
- Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) - Information about Ohio’s requirements for Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, guidance and resources to support implementation and information about Ohio’s PBIS Recognition System, PBIS Showcase and exemplars in the field offering visitation.
- Health Education - Ohio law directs schools and districts to include health education and other related topics at various times through the K-12 curriculum. Topics include nutrition, substance use prevention, venereal disease, personal safety and assault prevention, dating violence prevention, opioid abuse prevention and organ donation. This webpage provides legislative requirements and resources to help support schools and districts develop a health curriculum.
- Physical Education and Physical Activity - Ohio has five academic content standards in physical education to ensure students demonstrate competency in the areas of physical activity, movement and respectful personal and social behavior. This webpage provides information and resources on these standards and their benchmarks and indicators.
- Dating Violence Prevention - Guidelines and resources to help districts and schools meet the requirement to include dating violence prevention education in the health curriculum for grades 7 through 12.
- Human Trafficking Prevention - Messaging, visuals, fact sheets and posters on human trafficking and links for additional information to raise statewide awareness.
Additional Resources:
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Services to Students and Families
- Nutrition - The Department, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, administers nutrition programs to help to fight hunger and obesity through reimbursement opportunities for schools, child care centers and after-school programs that offer healthy meals to children. This webpage provides details and eligibility information for these programs.
- School-Based Health Care Support Toolkit - The School-Based Health Care Support Toolkit includes resources to support schools and districts as they begin new – or augment existing – school-based physical and mental health partnerships to meet the needs of the whole child. The toolkit includes links to important references and practical tips for schools and districts embarking on school-based health partnerships, as well as success stories from the field. The Department also has a resource page to help schools and districts with determining proper licensure requirements for school-based health professionals.
- Vulnerable Youth - Resources for and opportunities to support Ohio’s vulnerable youth. Vulnerable youth are students who often encounter challenges in receiving quality and equitable education. These youth may be students with disabilities, English learners, students experiencing homelessness, students in foster care, and adjudicated and migrant youth, who face many barriers to learning, including traumatization, high mobility and undiagnosed physical and behavioral health conditions.
- Student Wellness and Success Funds - Ohio invested $675 million over the biennium in student wellness and success. This webpage provides guidance and answers important questions surrounding the use of Student Wellness and Success Funds in the establishment of programs and services to meet the needs of the whole child. The webpage also highlights schools and districts that have established programs or services to support the whole child and student wellness and success.
- Opioid Abuse Prevention - Opioid Abuse Prevention education is required by local boards of education as part of a district’s health curriculum. Education is one tool in addressing the growing opioid epidemic by stopping addiction before it starts, promoting healthy choices and educating students about the dangers of opioid abuse. This webpage includes recommendations from the Governor’s Cabinet Opioid Action Team and resources to help districts select developmentally appropriate lessons for students.
- Prevention Education - Ohio allocated $20 million over the biennium for K-12 prevention education initiatives. Funding was allocated for school districts to implement prevention education in every classroom and for the Department to invest in professional development grants to educational service centers to train educators and related service personnel on the model and tenets of prevention of risky behaviors, including substance abuse, suicide, bullying and other harmful behaviors. This webpage includes resources and funding information on prevention education.
Additional Resources:
- Operation Prevention (Drug Enforcement Administration and Discovery Education) - Resources and materials to combat the nation’s opioid epidemic by educating students about the science behind addiction and investigating how a public health epidemic impacts a community.
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- Safer Schools - The Ohio Safe School Center assists local schools and law enforcement with preventing, preparing for and responding to threats and acts of violence, including self-harm, through a holistic, solutions-based approach to improving school safety.
- School Safety Tip Line - The Safer Ohio School Tip Line is a free safety resource available to all Ohio schools. The tip line is an anonymous reporting system that accepts both calls and texts 24 hours a day. This tip line allows students and adults to anonymously share information with school officials and law enforcement about threats to student safety—whether that involves a threatened mass incident or harm to a single student. Calls or texts to 844-SaferOH (844-723-3764) are answered by analysts within Ohio Homeland Security. If action is needed, the analysts immediately forward information to local school officials, law enforcement agencies and the Ohio School Safety Center for action and follow up.
- Anti-Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying - The Ohio anti-harassment, intimidation and bullying policy, guidance for policy implementation, student action planning, plan for school safety, as well as state and federal resources to
- Trauma-Informed Schools - Information on what trauma is, how it impacts students and steps districts and schools can take to become trauma informed. The webpages offer resources including videos, articles, book recommendations and links to national websites.
- Ohio School Climate Guidelines - The Ohio School Climate Guidelines and anti-harassment, intimidation and bullying policy provide guidance to create or enhance positive learning and teaching environments.
- STOP School Violence Threat Assessment Training - Information on the Ohio Department of Education’s free, evidence-based school violence prevention trainings to school personnel and students statewide using U.S. Department of Justice grant funding allocated through the STOP School Violence Act.
- Safety and Violence Prevention Training - The safety and violence prevention curriculum required to train school professionals in the prevention and detection of child abuse, violence, substance abuse, suicide ideation, anti-harassment, intimidation and bullying, human trafficking, and the promotion of positive youth development.
- ABC’s of Mental Health - Staff Wellness and Self-Care - A resource for educators who may be feeling the weight of new expectations, along with heightened health and safety concerns. The ABCs of Mental Health were developed by Ohio’s leading suicide prevention experts with teachers, administrators and school staff specifically in mind. The social media ads, sample press release and editorial can be used in local outreach to share these messages within the community.
Additional Resources:
- Quick Guide on Making School Climate Improvements (National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments) - This page provides district and school leaders, teachers, school staff and other members of the school community with the basics on how to initiate, implement and sustain school climate improvements.
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- Ohio’s Local Stakeholder Engagement Toolkit - Resources to provide schools and districts with a framework to cultivate stakeholder input and incorporate stakeholder feedback in the strategic planning process.
- Creating Caring Communities - Resources to help Ohio’s learners see their school communities as safe environments filled with caring educators and staff who encourage, empower, show empathy and foster a culture of trust and continuous improvement.
- Framework for Building Partnerships Among Schools, Families and Communities - Family engagement is critical to school and community efforts to meet the needs of the whole child. This resource is a framework detailing high-quality family engagement models to support school and community leaders in utilizing families as partners in their work.
- Family Engagement Toolkit for Ohio’s Whole Child Framework – A family engagement toolkit to accompany Ohio’s Whole Child Framework with interactive links to explore resources for engaging families within the 12 components of the framework.
Additional Resources:
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Last Modified: 12/2/2022 9:54:37 AM