Reviews the work of the Collaborative to Advance Social and Emotional Learning, examining its guidelines for promoting mental health in children and youth based on social and emotional learning (SEL) and key principles. Five examples of exemplary approaches to SEL, each representing a different focus, are presented. Issues in real-world…

Outlines four steps to improve social skills interventions that take advantage of the unique environments of schools and increase the likelihood that social skills interventions can achieve individualization and generalization. The four steps are: identifying key skills; teaching the skill in isolation; practicing in controlled settings; and…

For expanded school mental health programs to feature improved access, increased productivity, and improved behavioral outcomes, researchers, school-based mental health service providers, and educators must collaborate to move them beyond limiting constructs and approaches. The paper reviews these issues and offers an example of an ideal approach…

Describes the evolution, implementation, maintenance, and evaluation of comprehensive school-based mental health services in the Dallas, Texas public schools. A collaboration between mental health services, other health services, and the schools established 10 Youth and Family Centers to serve local schools. Benefits and challenges to coordinated…

To successfully address mental health and psychosocial concerns in schools, practices must not be marginalized and must be implemented cohesively. Mechanisms and processes are needed to minimize marginalized and fragmented practice, link school and community resources, and develop comprehensive, multifaceted approaches. These include a…

Presents an inventory of federal activities that address violence in schools. Agencies were asked to identify all ongoing activities and recently completed efforts regarding school violence. The resulting categories include: surveillance activities, evaluation research activities, other research activities, research synthesis and application…

Describes the process evaluation of facilitator training for a risk-reduction program that trained college students and community volunteers to teach middle school students. Examination of facilitator characteristics and training, curriculum implementation, and use of the model to promote critical thinking found that most facilitators considered…

Proposes a new approach to ensuring full and accurate disclosure of information about a website. The SiteLegend approach uses a hyperlink to fully inform consumers regarding 12 essential components of websites. This article describes each of the 12 components, then provides an example of an active online link that illustrates actual use of the…

Examined the inclusion of an asthma education space adventure game into fourth-grade classrooms. Pretesting and posttesting indicated that using the game significantly improved students' asthma knowledge in the intervention classroom over the observation period. Knowledge gained was retained over a 4-week period. The addition of physician-led…

Describes the Hawaii Partnership for Standards-Based School Health Education, which includes various state agencies, a university, local businesses, and the American Cancer Society, highlighting: the development of the standards; the history of the partnership; partnership activities to date; concurrent supporting efforts; future plans; and…

Describes the development, over many years, of a unified code of ethics designed to represent the professional needs of various health education professionals working in the field. The code of ethics for the health education profession is included. It focuses on responsibility to: the public; the profession; employers; health education delivery:…

Explores the relevance of Richard Paul's concept of critical thinking to health education. Paul's concept features elements of reasoning, intellectual standards, and intellectual traits. Each component appears highly relevant to health education. Unanswered questions about the approach concern the degree to which thinking skills and traits can be…

Explored the relationship between severity of sanction imposed for tobacco policy violation and dropout rates in South Carolina public high schools. Surveys of school principals assessed policies and sanctions. Data were tested for an association between event dropout rate and sanction severity. Results suggest that severe sanctions imposed for…

Used a national survey of school based health clinic directors to assess the success of clinics in terms of longevity and service delivery, testing factors, particularly political factors, thought to impinge upon their ability to function effectively. Results indicated that factors most consistently and significantly associated with success…

Surveyed rural parents regarding their perceptions of the characteristics, content, and comfort level of discussions about sexual issues with their teens. Results indicated that most respondents believed the family should play a prominent role in sexuality education, with help from the school starting before seventh grade. Most parents felt…