Research Results – First Longitudinal Study
The HLC Behavioral-Health Curriculum completed a rigorous three-year formative evaluation by the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE). The evaluation unveiled three important findings:
Children exposed to HLC programming have significantly higher health knowledge than peers without HLC. In fact, after multi-year program exposure, children with vastly different standardized test scores achieved comparable scores in the HLC Health Literacy Challenge.
This increased health knowledge translates to positive behavior change at school. Multiple qualitative assessments show students exhibiting less behavior problems in the classroom, eating more nutritious foods at lunchtime and playing more safely on campus.
Knowledge gains from HLC are translating to behavior change in the home. In separate interviews with parents and their children, parents indicated and children confirmed that 84% had made positive changes in eating habits, 71% were making safer choices in and around the home, 69% were exercising more, 51% improved relationships with family and friends and 44% advocated for a family member to quit smoking.
Research Results – Second Longitudinal Study
At the start of the 2010-2011 school year, HLC began a new research project with the Cecil J. Picard Center for Child Development and Lifelong Learning at the University of Louisiana, Lafayette. The research center is comprised of a multidisciplinary group of evaluation and research professionals focusing on early childhood and K-12 education with a specific interest in school-based health programs.
The new study is gathering evidence related to student outcomes, instructional quality and implementation fidelity. Using a mixed methods design of multiple data sources, multiple data collectors and multiple modes of analysis, the study will follow nearly 7,000 students in urban, suburban and rural schools for three years.