NEWARK – By the fall, Worcester County’s health literacy program will be fully implemented in local schools.
The Integrated Health Literacy Program (IHLP), launched through a partnership between Worcester County Public Schools, Atlantic General Hospital and the University of Maryland’s Herschel S. Horowitz Center for Health Literacy, was first introduced to local students in 2014. Though initially offered to a small group of students, the program’s success has encouraged school system officials to expand it gradually. It will be fully implemented, offered to students in grades one through eight, for the 2017-2018 school year.
The program is designed to help students better understand the role health plays in their lives. Through the IHLP, teachers incorporate health facts and skills into their normal lessons.
“In the Integrated Health Literacy Program we’re using health content but we’re using health content to teach reading, math, science and social studies,” said Tamara Mills, the school system’s coordinator for health instruction.
In a presentation Tuesday, Mills told the Worcester County Board of Education that the program had been administered in grades one through six this year successfully and had been piloted in grades seven and eight. Because the pilot programs went well, all seventh- and eighth-graders will participate in the program next year.
At each grade level, different health lessons are incorporated into the curriculum. In first grade, for example, students learn about things like dental health and germs. In third grade, children discuss nutrition and exercise. In eighth grade, health topics include opioids and stress management, among other things.
Students are given a pre-test to gauge their health knowledge at the start of the school year. They’re given another test at the end of the school year so educators can determine whether their understanding of health has improved.
According to Mills, the school system’s most recent findings, those from 2015-2016, show that third-graders with a high health literacy score increased from 37.2 percent at the pre-test to 68.7 percent at the post-test. In fourth grade, students who received a high health literacy score increased from 49.6 percent at pre-test to 68.9 percent at post-test. Test results showed that in fifth grade, students who received a high health literacy score increased from 56 percent at pre-test to 75.7 percent post-test.
The longer the IHLP is in place, the lower the difference between test scores will become. Mills pointed out that some students had now taken part in the health literacy program for several years.
“We’re going to see smaller increases from pre-test to post-test because they have that knowledge,” she said.
Mills told the board the success of the program had gained the attention of educators in other parts of the state. Officials from other school systems have contacted Worcester County to discuss the program.
“Wicomico is really trying to get this program or something similar implemented,” she said.
