Project ECHO pilot enhances health, education in Oklahoma K-12 school communities

Tuesday, July 23, 2024

Media Contact:
Sydney Trainor | Communications and Media Relations Specialist | 405-744-9782 | [email protected]

For K-12 educators, enhancing student wellness is crucial. Understanding its impact
on academic and personal success, they seek resources to equip students with essential
life skills.  

In January, through the Human Performance and Nutrition Research Institute, Oklahoma State University hosted a new Project ECHO line — Building Healthy School Communities — that concluded in May with plans to relaunch in September to reach more schools
across the state.   

“At the heart of every community is its schools,” said Dr. Tara Jackson, OSU Project
ECHO director, OSU Center for Health Sciences. “This was the foundation for this first-of-its-kind
ECHO line. The ‘Building Healthy School Communities’ ECHO line was designed based
on needs assessments from the schools to enhance the physical and health literacy
of students and school staff. Project ECHO is honored to collaborate with HPRNI, the
schools, state organizations, and our ECHO experts to provide guidance and knowledge
in the areas of physical education, nutrition, psychology, and community engagement
to help school leaders make the experience of a school day healthy, safe, and productive
for both students and staff. We are incredibly grateful to TSET for funding this important
ECHO line.” 

The 10-week pilot program shared expert knowledge of best practices to build and maintain
healthy school communities, reaching 89 attendees.   

Led by a team of experts from OSU, HPNRI and the Oklahoma State Department of Education, this is the first program of its kind nationwide that brings K-12 education and
health care together in a hybrid platform.   

“Research shows there are connections between health and academic achievement,” said
Shana Classen, OSDE director of health and physical education. “It makes sense to
work outside of our silos and align the efforts of leaders in Oklahoma schools, government
agencies, and communities who prioritize students’ health and wellness.”  

The program allowed for dialogue between school superintendents, counselors, teachers,
administrators, athletic directors, coaches and subject matter experts for a more
comprehensive approach to addressing various issues affecting students. 

“As I reflect on this pilot program, I believe the insights gathered will guide me
in refining my current efforts and shaping future initiatives at the Oklahoma State
Department of Education,” Classen said. “This experience illuminates the power of
relationship building and collaboration that provides opportunities to braid ongoing
initiatives that contribute to the creation of healthier and more supportive environments
where students can flourish academically and personally.” 

The pilot cohort included five K-12 school districts from across Oklahoma ranging
in size from 150-5,000 students, allowing the ECHO team to assess the needs of schools
across the state and develop ways to provide resources to meet student and educator
needs.   

“Schools have a broad scope of responsibilities related to educating the next generation
of Oklahomans; one of which is providing a healthy environment in which students,
and school employees, can thrive and be successful,” said Dr. Deana Hildebrand, OSU
nutritional science professor and hub team lead. “The scope for this particular ECHO
line was narrowed by authentically listening to school administrators and faculty
members to learn about the health-related situations most impacting the local education
context.”   

From there, the team developed curriculum to address local needs resulting in productive
conversations across schools – truly an all teach all learn environment.   

“By connecting school leaders with health and nutrition experts utilizing skills-based
approaches, we’re equipping educators with the tools and knowledge to foster healthier
environments for students,” said Melenda Knight, HPNRI associate director. “This initiative
is just the beginning of a broader effort to support health and wellness in our communities,
and I’m excited about the positive changes we’re seeing already.” 

For Adair Public School Superintendent Mark Lippe, joining the pilot cohort was perfect
timing as his district was beginning a health and human performance class for students.
Adair wanted to teach that health and human performance was more than strength training
by including information on nutrition and mental health, but they lacked the resources.   

With slightly more than 1,000 students systemwide, Adair is a rural community in northeastern
Oklahoma that excels academically and through extracurriculars. However, Lippe said
there’s always a need for more resources to improve students’ lives. 

“As school leaders, we’re often focused on academic activities; everything we do is
reading and math-driven,” Lippe said. “We say all the time, ‘If a student can read
well, they can succeed in all subjects.’ At the same time, our bodies are a huge catalyst
for our academic performance and if we don’t take care of our bodies, we don’t perform
as well. As our level of health rises, then our performance can increase on achievement
in academics. It’s really tied together.  

“This project, all in all, helped us see the correlation between healthy lifestyles
and academics.”  

Lippe took information back to his district about mental health and nutrition, sparking
conversations about what Adair is doing to address students’ mental health. These
sessions also allowed Lippe to see what other schools are doing to improve nutrition
and how those things could be implemented in his district.   

Lippe highly encourages other school districts to take advantage of the resources
available through this program.  

“This was an invaluable tool for us to not just focus on academics, but it’s that
focus on the whole child in an approach leads to student success,” Lippe said. 

At Poteau Public Schools in eastern Oklahoma, Superintendent Scott Kempenich and Assistant
Superintendent Diane Tillery joined the cohort to gain resources to address the specific
needs of their 2,200 students.   

“We had two needs that we felt from the beginning were things we would like to have
addressed,” Tillery said. “One being vaping, and it’s just rampant usage among teens,
and how to address that, how to try to make them not want to do that so badly and
realize the effects that’s going to have on their health later on. The other was nutrition,
especially among our athletes, but really for everybody. We know that Oklahoma ranks
very low in overall health for our population and the best way to counter that is
to educate the students and the community as best you can on what they need to do
to look healthy and live longer lives.”  

Tillery and Kempenich presented two case studies during the ECHO sessions, which allowed
them to hear how other schools handled those challenges and about other concerns that
might not have been their top priority.   

Across the state in northwestern Oklahoma, Dr. Jill Henderson— Cimarron Public Schools
superintendent — joined the ECHO because she knows how important it is to network
with other individuals and schools to establish resources to better serve her district’s
200 students.   

The Building Healthy School Communities cohort provided professional development opportunities
for Henderson’s team to access nutrition, physical education and mental health resources.   

Henderson said it can be challenging for physical education teachers to attend professional
development outside of coaching clinics. This ECHO allowed at least four members of
her team to attend sessions and present three case studies that allowed them to receive
feedback and implement strategies in their district 

“Project ECHO is the wave of the future,” Henderson said. “It is so difficult for
educators to get away from the site, and it’s difficult to get substitute teachers.
This makes it easier to pull teachers, or pull instructors for an hour twice a month,
and let them go into an ECHO session and then get back into the classroom. 

Henderson has been involved in different ECHO lines for the last five years and sees
how impactful this work can be on future generations. She is appreciative of those
who take time to ensure public schools have resources and connections to make students
successful.  

“We can’t do it alone. It requires partnerships, just like OSU and all the people
who serve on this hub team who will give up their time each month to be a part of
this and just connect us without ever being in the same room, never meeting face to
face,” Henderson said. “I can’t stress how critical it is and again, how appreciative
we are that people will do that for us.”