School Health Index Online Help

Features

The online SHI allows you to log in, create your SHI, complete self-assessment questions, and create a plan for improvement through online forms. The system saves all your data for you, and multiple team members can log on at the same time.

Overall Process Flow

First Steps

Create an Account for Your Team

The first step in using the SHI is to register your team. SHI will create a reference number for your team. This number will be displayed at the top right corner of the screen. It will also be emailed to all of the E-mail addresses you list. You may add more than one email address per person (e.g., work and home email addresses). To access your team's SHI assessment in the future, enter the reference number on the Log In screen or click the link provided in the email confirmation message.

Create Your SHI

After creating an account, the next step is to create a SHI. This involves assigning a name to your SHI, indicating your school level, and selecting the health topics to be included. The health topics determine the questions that will be used for the assessment. In addition, the assessment will include cross-cutting questions that are more general in nature.

Answering Discussion Questions

The SHI is structured around CDC's eight-component model of Coordinated School Health. The discussion questions are displayed in up to eight modules according to the topics you selected. Read the questions carefully and select the answer that best describes your school. If a question does not apply to your school, you can designate it as not applicable. If you are not sure or need more information before you answer the question, you can skip the question and return to it at another time. You do not have to answer all the questions in a module.

Understanding Your Scorecards

The system assigns scores based on your responses to the questions. There are scorecards for each module and an overall scorecard. Use the module scorecards to identify each module's strengths and weaknesses and to identify areas for improvement. Module scorecards can be used as the basis for your preliminary discussions. Use the overall scorecard to view your scores from the eight modules and to identify your overall strengths and weaknesses.

The SHI Main Page

Overview

The SHI main page is the first page displayed when you create a new SHI. At the top of the page you will find this information:

Your School’s SHI displays the name of the SHI you are currently viewing or editing.

SHI Edition displays the edition of SHI you are currently using.

Created and Last Activity display the date the current SHI was created and the date it was last modified.

From this page you can do the following:

• Click the Modules/Questions link to access the discussion questions for each module, view your module scorecard, identify your strengths and weaknesses for each module or view the summary information for each module.
• Click the Overall Scorecard link to view your scores for all the modules.
• Click the Improvement Plan link to set up an action plan for improvement in your school.
• Click the Print this page link to print the page.

My SHI Options

This box (and matching pull-down menu)includes the following links:

• Create a New SHI. When you have completed your current SHI or no longer want to use it, you can create a new SHI at any time. If you create a new SHI while working with another SHI, the system archives the SHI you're working with and makes the new SHI the current SHI. You cannot update an archived SHI. If you click the Create a New SHI link in error, just click Cancel on the displayed page to return to the Modules list.
• View Your School’s SHI History. You can view or delete an archived SHI on this page. Each previously created SHI is displayed by name, the date it was created, SHI edition, and the health topics it addressed. You cannot update an archived SHI.
• Edit Team Information. You can update your team information on this page. This includes adding new team members. It is important to add team members’ e-mail addresses to your SHI team information to make sure that your Reference Number is not lost when one person leaves the school community.
• View Your School’s SHI Profile. On this page you can review your SHI name, school level, and the health topics you have chosen to include in your SHI.
• Email Reference Number. You can send an email reminder to team members from this page to ensure they have the Reference Number they need to access the team’s SHI.
• Reset Reference Number. You can reset your reference number on this page. If you reset your reference number, the new number will be emailed to you and all team members with email addresses in team information. If you click the Reset Reference Number link in error, just click Cancel on the displayed page to return to the Modules list.

Coordinated School Health Model

The SHI is structured around CDC’s eight component model of Coordinated School Health. Click the Coordinated School Health Model link to view pages outlining the rationale and goals for CSH, a model framework for planning and implementing CSH, and resources to help schools, districts, and states improve their school health programs.

Create a New SHI

Overview

When creating a SHI, you can specify your school level and select health topics that customize the questions for your school. You can create a new SHI after registering your team or at any time when working with a SHI. If you are working with a SHI and choose to create a new SHI, your current SHI is archived and your newly-created SHI becomes the current SHI. You cannot update an archived SHI. If you click the Create a New SHI link in error, just click Cancel on the displayed page to return to the Modules list.

Be sure to select all the health topics that you want to include in your SHI. You cannot go back and modify the list of health topics after the SHI is saved. Regardless of the health topics you select, cross-cutting questions will appear in six of the eight SHI modules.

Step-by-step Instructions

1. Enter the name you want to assign to your SHI in the SHI Name field, for example, “LeHigh HS 2012.” You might want to include the school year in your SHI Name to help track your SHI history. A SHI name cannot exceed 15 characters.
2. Select your school level.
3. Select the health topics that you want to include in your SHI. The health topics you select determine the questions that will be included in your SHI. At least one health topic is required. Remember: regardless of the health topics you select, cross-cutting questions will always appear. Be sure to select all the health topics you want to assess. You cannot add or remove SHI health topics once your SHI is created.
4. Click Continue to create your SHI and proceed to the main SHI page where you can start answering the discussion questions.

Answering Discussion Questions

Overview

The SHI is structured around CDC's eight-component model of Coordinated School Health (CSH). The discussion questions are displayed in eight modules according to the topics you select. These modules correspond to the CSH eight components. The icons beside each module indicate which of the health topics you have chosen to address appear in each module. Cross-cutting questions are also included regardless of the health topics you select.

If a question does not apply to your school, you can designate it as not applicable. If you are not sure or need more information before you can answer the question, you can skip the question and return to it at another time to select a response. The system will not score that answer or use it to calculate your scorecard. You do not have to answer all the questions in a module.

When answering the questions, it is important to keep in mind that the SHI is a self-help tool and not an instrument for evaluating staff or students. There is no passing grade. The SHI is designed to help you understand your school and not to compare your school with other schools. You can expect to get some low scores. These can help you build awareness of areas that need improvement.

Step-by-step Instructions

1. Read each question carefully and select the answer that best describes your school. If a question does not apply to your school, select Does not apply. If you are not sure about a question, you can leave it blank and return to answer it at a later time.
2. If a word or phrase is highlighted by bold text and underlined, you can click on it to bring up the Glossary entry for that word or phrase in a separate window. The Glossary provides more information that might be helpful in understanding and answering the question.
3. You can click on Help, Glossary, or Resources at any time to open that information in a separate window.
4. Click Next to proceed to the next question. To change your response to a previous question, click Previous until you get to the question, change your response, and then click Next until you return to the point you stopped.
5. After answering the last question in the module, click Next. The system displays the Scorecard and Planning Questions page where you can view your responses and proceed with the planning questions.
6. When all the questions in a module have been answered, even if "Does not apply" is selected for some questions, the system marks the module as complete by preceding the icons representing the selected topics with a check mark ✓. A module is considered complete even if other sections, such as Strengths/Weaknesses and Plan for Improvement are blank.

Module Scorecards

Overview

The scorecard shows scores based on your responses to the questions in the module. Each question has five possible answers. Your responses are scored as follows:

Response	Score
Fully in place (first selection)	3
Partially in place (second selection)	2
Under development (third selection)	1
Not in place (fourth selection)	0
Does not apply (fifth selection)	(--) no score
(no response)	no score

You can display the questions for each module by clicking on the question name in the scorecard. At the bottom of each module scorecard, the system displays your assessed score as a proportion of the maximum points that can be scored for the module. It also provides a percentage score for that module.

Step-by-step Instructions

1. Identify the high and low-scoring items. Your high-scoring items are the ones for which you scored 3's and 2's and your low-scoring items are the ones for which you scored 1's and 0's.
2. Proceed to the Planning Questions section to enter your strengths and weaknesses, identify recommended actions, and prioritize your actions.

Module Planning Questions

Overview

After analyzing the module scores assigned to your responses and using them to identify your school's strengths and weaknesses, you can enter that information into the Planning Questions section below the scorecard. You can enter up to ten strengths and ten weaknesses and use this information to brainstorm possible actions to improve areas you have assessed as weaknesses.

Step-by-step Instructions

1. Enter your school's identified strengths in the Strengths section by clicking on Add Strength. You can enter up to ten strengths.
2. Enter your school's identified weaknesses in the Weaknesses section by clicking on Add Weakness. You can enter up to ten weaknesses.
3. For the identified weaknesses, enter a recommended action in the Action text box by clicking Add Action.
4. For each action, determine the ranking for each of the following measures on a scale of 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest).
   • Importance. How important is this action?
   • Cost. How expensive is this action going to be?
   • Time. How much time and effort is it going to take to implement this action?
   • Commitment. How committed are you to this action?
   • Feasibility. How practical or realistic is this action?

   The system displays the total points for each action as well as the individual rankings you entered.

5. Select Yes or No to indicate whether this action is top priority. You can use your total points to determine whether this action is a top priority. The one to three actions that receive the highest score will be your top priority actions.
6. After entering all the actions, click Next to view a printer-friendly summary of the module scorecard and plans. Click the Print page link to print the module scorecard and plans.

Overall Scorecard

Overview

Your overall scorecard displays your scores from the eight modules at a glance. There are five possible rankings for each module score ranging from Low to Medium to High. This overall scorecard will help you to identify overall strengths and weaknesses and start a School Health Improvement Plan.

Step-by-step Instructions

1. Click the Overall Scorecard link to access the overall scorecard.
2. Review the scores for each module and note the position of the X for each module: low, medium, or high.
3. Click the Print page link to print the scorecard.
4. Click Continue to proceed to the Plan for Improvement page to set up a plan for school health improvement based on the overall scorecard.

Plan for Improvement

Overview

After viewing your overall scorecard and identifying your areas of strength and weakness, it is time for the team to set up a plan for school health improvement. At this stage, the team reviews and discusses the findings for each module, identifies the actions that need to be implemented, lays out the steps, assigns team members to complete the tasks, and indicates the completion dates for the tasks. Use the SHI Training Manual to help plan your team's second meeting.

Step-by-step Instructions

1. Based on the suggested actions from each module and the overall scorecard, the team should select three to five actions to take over the next school year. Click Add Action to add an action to your plan. You can edit or delete an existing action.
2. For each action, enter the specific steps that need to be taken to complete the action by clicking Add Step. Steps should be concrete and state exactly what needs to happen to achieve the action. You can enter up to ten steps for each action. Steps can be edited or deleted by clicking the appropriate link next to the step.
3. Identify the individual or subgroup who will be in charge of completing each step in the By whom section.
4. In the Date field, specify the date the work will be completed.
5. When all actions and steps have been added, click Continue to view a printer friendly version of the plan.
6. Click Print page to print the plan for improvement and use it to improve your school's health programs and policies. After an agreed-upon implementation time, you can create a new SHI and conduct another assessment and plan. Your previous SHI will be archived for reference.

For more information, see the School Health Index Online Help Introductory page.