CEI Helps Schools Get Smart About Health and Wellness – Results are In!

October 3, 2016

More than 450 Colorado schools volunteered to participate in the 2015-16 Smart Source pilot and while the state-level results are impressive, CEI’s health and wellness team knows there is more work to do across the state.

“We are thrilled that 25 percent of all Colorado schools participated in the second Smart Source pilot to assess their school health efforts,” said CEI’s Health and Wellness Director Amy Dyett. “For the first time in our state, we have information that tells us what our schools are doing to comprehensively impact student health.”

Dyett added that Smart Source helps schools track and compare their policies and practices related to school health and safety to other schools around the state in order to address the needs of the whole child.

“These data tell us that over 73 percent of participating schools have wellness teams that guide improvements in school health and wellness,” said Health and Wellness Senior Manager Andrea Pulskamp. “It’s great to see that a majority of these teams include membership from a school administrator, which reflects that leadership supports the healthy efforts.”

The new results also show that only one in seven participating secondary schools give students a seat at the table when building positive school culture. “We know that when students feel more connected to school, they are more likely to attend and graduate,” added Pulskamp. “We want to help schools shift ownership of school culture to their students.”

See the 2015-16 Smart Source results. Stay tuned for the release of the 2016-17 Smart Source Executive Summary in November!