Author: Tom

Time Magazine article:
A New Public Finance Tool to Help the Most Vulnerable

Pay for Success announcement:
Pay for Success Projects Announced in South Carolina and Connecticut

Nurse-Family Partnership press release (PDF):
Gov. Nikki Haley Launches Landmark “Pay for Success” Project to Improve Maternal and Child Health, Increase Government Accountability

The Juvenile Justice Information Exchange has published an article:

Blueprints Conference Offers Lessons in Evidence-Based Programming

The Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence (CSPV) at the University of Colorado Boulder today released an independent fact-finding report examining the events and circumstances leading to the 2013 fatal shooting of senior Claire Davis at Arapahoe High School and offering recommendations for improvements in school safety.

The report sought to understand the school’s threat and risk assessment procedures and responses and identify the lessons learned to improve youth violence prevention in schools across Colorado and the United States.

The report cites several missed opportunities to share information about and intervene with fellow student shooter Karl Pierson. Specifically, school administrators and staff failed to: document behavior and safety concerns through the school’s student information system, Infinite Campus; train students and staff in the anonymous reporting system Safe2Tell; and implement an Interagency Information Sharing Agreement to exchange vital information about students of concern with law enforcement and other community agencies.

The report also cites Littleton Public Schools’ failure to adequately implement the district’s threat assessment policies and to validate its threat assessment tool and process.

Finally, the report lists 27 decisions that may have contributed to a breakdown in communication about, and responses to, the threat posed by Pierson. These decisions included not building a safety and support action plan for him after incidents of elementary school violence; not following up on the shooter’s claims of being bullied or of others’ reports of him being a bully; not suspending him for threatening to kill his debate coach; not supporting him when his grades dropped; and not informing the threat assessment team about his viewing of guns and mass shootings online.

The report includes 32 recommendations for improving school safety, including:

• Consistent use by key school staff of a student information system, such as Infinite Campus, to document matters of “public safety concern,” including student behavior concerns, conduct violations, interventions, academic issues, threat assessment results, and safety and support action plans.
• Annual trainings for students and staff on how to use the anonymous threat reporting system Safe2Tell.
• Completion of an Interagency Information Sharing Agreement with community agencies including those in law enforcement, mental health, social services and criminal justice.
• Implementation of validated risk and threat assessment processes in schools and use of these results to build a safety and support plan for any student who shows high risk for violent behavior.
• Use of the U.S. Secret Service’s six principles and 11 questions to evaluate early warning signs, risk factors and protective factors during a threat assessment.
• Development of a continuous improvement model of error review to promote a school culture of safety and minimize “groupthink” where staff can report concerns without fear of reprisal.
• An audit of any school or district requesting one by the Colorado School Safety Resource Center for proper use of Virginia Student Threat Assessment Guidelines (V-STAG) or other validated threat and risk assessment processes. Any school or district that has implemented a validated process and receives a “high pass” in an audit could use the results as an affirmative defense in any proceeding under legislation passed last year making Colorado public schools legally liable for student safety and waiving governmental immunity in cases of violence.
• Annual update of the Colorado School Violence Prevention and School Discipline Manual by the Colorado Attorney General’s Office, annual training by school districts on all statutes related to school safety and violence prevention and creation of annual compliance reports by Colorado school districts.

Visit the CSPV website for the report.

Fitpregnancy has published an article about a new study:

Parenting Class Helps Babies Even Before Birth

A new report, Unleashing the Power of Prevention, published by the National Academy of Medicine, recommends the widespread use of LifeSkills Training and other evidence-based programs.

Unleashing the Power of Prevention

Prevention Action has published an article:

How Life Skills Training builds on a lifetime of research

Article: Mihalic, S. F., & Elliott, D. S. (2015). Evidence-based programs registry: Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development. Evaluation and Program Planning, 48, 124-131.

Abstract:
There is a growing demand for evidence-based programs to promote healthy youth development, but this growth has been accompanied by confusion related to varying definitions of evidence-based and mixed messages regarding which programs can claim this designation. The registries that identify evidence-based programs, while intended to help users sift through the findings and claims regarding programs, has oftentimes led to more confusion with their differing standards and program ratings. The advantages of using evidence-based programs and the importance of adopting a high standard of evidence, especially when taking programs to scale, are described. One evidence-based registry is highlighted: Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development hosted at the University of Colorado Boulder. Unlike any previous initiative of its kind, Blueprints established unmatched standards for identifying evidence-based programs and has acted in a way similar to the FDA – evaluating evidence, data and research to determine which programs meet their high standard of proven efficacy.

Article: Tolan, P. H. (2013). Making and using lists of empirically tested programs: Value for violence interventions for progress and impact. Originally published in Institute of Medicine and National Research Council, The evidence for violence prevention around the world and across the lifespan: A workshop summary. Washington: DC: The National Academies Press.