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Engage, Empower, Connect: The Educator’s Guide to School Connectedness

Create an account with The Pennsylvania State University Prevention Learning Portal and earn completion certificates for several prevention topics. This course introduces the concept of School Connectedness and its powerful influence on school climate, student well-being, and academic success. Learners will explore how fostering a sense of belonging and connection within schools can lead to improved health and learning outcomes. The course offers practical strategies, examples, and resources to help educators strengthen school connectedness in both classroom and schoolwide settings.

Adapting Evidence-based Programs: Maintaining Fidelity and Effectiveness

Create an account with The Pennsylvania State University Prevention Learning Portal and earn completion certificates for several prevention topics. The purpose of this course is to provide learners with a comprehensive understanding of the considerations for adapting evidence-based programs. Learning objectives include: (1) Understand the concept of adaptation; (2) Identify core components of evidence-based programs; (3) Recognize reasons for adaptation; (4) Distinguish acceptable, cautionary, and unacceptable adaptations; (5) Plan and implement adaptations; and (6) Monitor adaptations and program implementation.

The Peer Review Process

This video explains the peer review process for prevention programs, which is a quality control process that involves careful review of scholarly and academic work. Experts with knowledge and experience in the same field as the prevention program that is being reviewed will scrutinize the research, ideas, methods, and outcomes of the program to ensure that the research has occurred according to professional standards. These experts also ensure that the program outcomes may be reproduced in other similar contexts and conditions. Then, a publication is produced with the findings which is also referred to as a scholarly publication. To learn more about the Peer Review Process, please view the YouTube video.

Demonstrating Program Impact: Understanding the Role of Short-Term Outcomes

Create an account with The Pennsylvania State University Prevention Learning Portal and earn completion certificates for several prevention topics. This course builds knowledge and skills for defining, measuring, and clearly communicating short-term outcomes for prevention programs. It covers how to distinguish short-term outcome measures from process measures, develop plans for collecting and reporting outcome data, and use outcome information to demonstrate program success and impact.

From Plan to Practice: Feasibility, Process, and Outcome Evaluation

Create an account with The Pennsylvania State University Prevention Learning Portal and earn completion certificates for several prevention topics. This course is about evaluation, and is designed to help professionals confidently navigate the tools, decisions, and processes needed to collect and use data in meaningful ways. You’ll explore why evaluation matters and build a clear understanding of feasibility, process, and outcome evaluation. Along the way, you’ll learn how to select the right evaluation approach for your program and put it into practice to strengthen your efforts. Whether you’re new to data collection or bring years of experience, this course offers practical guidance and foundational strategies you can use right away.

Writing S.M.A.R.T. Goals and Objectives

Create an account with The Pennsylvania State University Prevention Learning Portal and earn completion certificates for several prevention topics. The purpose of this course is to introduce S.M.A.R.T. goals and objectives and explain how they translate ideas into action by clearly defining what needs to be done, by whom, and by what target date. The course also demonstrates how S.M.A.R.T. components support measurable accountability and timelines for assessing whether project activities are producing the intended results.

Using Logic Models to Strengthen Programs from Start to Finish

Create an account with The Pennsylvania State University Prevention Learning Portal and earn completion certificates for several prevention topics. This resource explains how a logic model helps clarify a program’s goals, articulate how and why it works, and identify why desired outcomes may or may not be occurring at different stages of planning, implementation, or reflection. It describes the logic model as a guiding framework that visually links program activities to intended goals and outcomes, serving as a practical roadmap for program success.

Project Management: Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed (RACI) Diagram

Any small and large project involves multiple individuals and stakeholders. It is extremely important in managing tasks across the project life cycle to define which individuals/stakeholders are Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed (RACI). A RACI Diagram or RACI Matrix can assist program managers in identifying who needs to be involved and how they are involved. You can view this video for an overview of RACI Diagrams.

Program Readiness: Preparing for Program Launch

Create an account with The Pennsylvania State University Prevention Learning Portal and earn completion certificates for several prevention topics. Identifying and putting a new program in place can be overwhelming. This tutorial supports exploration and decision-making around key implementation components that increase the likelihood of program success and provides tools and information to support program launch and early sustainability planning.

Contact

Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development
University of Colorado Boulder
Institute of Behavioral Science
UCB 483, Boulder, CO 80309

Email: blueprints@colorado.edu

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Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development is currently funded by the United States Office of National Drug Control Policy and historically has received funding from Arnold Ventures, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.