PLAY Education's VISION is: Every child experiencing diverse, equitable, and inclusive environments where they feel they belong, can shine and thrive as their true, authentic and full versions of themselves.
PLAY Education's MISSION is: By supporting the development, implementation, evaluation, sustainability and capacity building of whole-child programs and initiatives, practices and policies that focus on, but are not limited to; healthy school environments, small group or individual interventions and adaptations to learning environments, through the use of best practices, creativity, innovation and authenticity.
PLAY Education's PRIORITIES are: VULNERABLE YOUTH which includes but is not limited to; children of color, children of historically marginalized or underrepresented populations and underserved communities, children who identify as (she/her/hers) and LGBTQ+, families with low social-economic status or who live in poverty, unsheltered and foster care children, migrant families, children with chronic conditions (asthma, diabetes, food allergies, oral health, etc.), the disabled (physically and mentally), children with mental, emotional and behavioral health needs and rural communities.
The P.L.A.Y. Education Corporation’s (PLAY Education) mission is, “By supporting the development, implementation, evaluation, sustainability and capacity building of whole-child programs and initiatives, practices and policies that focus on, but are not limited to; healthy school environments, small group or individual interventions and adaptations to learning environments, through the use of best practices, creativity, innovation and authenticity”.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "Establishing healthy behaviors during childhood is easier and more effective than trying to change unhealthy behaviors during adulthood. Schools play a critical role in promoting the health and safety of young people and helping them establish lifelong healthy behaviors. Every school has a unique set of needs" (CDC, 2023).
In order to meet the needs of individual demographics and populations that are the make-up of Colorado diverse schools and communities, identifying gaps in school policies, programs and practices must be streamlined to ensure efficiently and effectiveness. Colorado currently has two surveys Smart Source and Healthy Kids Colorado Survey (HKCS) that evaluate/assess and measure the health and well-being of young people and the school health policies and practices that support youth health.
The proposed project is building a web application that supports schools/districts/BOCES/communities to complete either and/or both Colorado surveys at any time during the year, analyze current best practices around whole-child school heath, identify gaps in policies, practices and programs directly aligned with school health, and provides automatic reminders and task management to assist with capacity building and sustainability.
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Addressing social determinates of health is the current landscape in Colorado around healthcare. To create health equity for all individuals, programs that sit outside of unconventional healthcare systems are critical to navigating health disparities that are impacting historically marginalized and underrepresented groups, focusing specifically on vulnerable youth.
The intended outcome(s) of PLAY Education's project would be to bridge the gap of continuing to support forward thinking and larger organizations and foundations funding important work and continuing to support and provide capacity building around healthy school work by building and designing software that allows for this work to continue at the convenience of certain schools/districts/BOCES/organizations ability and capacity.
In addition, the outcome of scaling small, manual work to digital and electronic application with the ability to customize and crosswalk individual school level/district data, will enhance the outreach of healthy schools’ work and ultimately, contributing to the overall landscape of addressing social determinants of health and health equity for all.
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Colorado currently has two surveys Smart Source and Healthy Kids Colorado Survey (HKCS) that evaluate/assess and measure the health and well-being of young people and the school health policies and practices that support youth health.
Currently, the statewide systems only conduct the administration of these surveys in the fall of odd-numbered years. In addition, many schools/districts/BOCES/organizations have their own personalized surveys that are not aligned with Smart Source or HKCS.
When whole child initiatives are not part of a school/district/BOCES/community, students are not receiving the “emphasis on both psychosocial and physical environments that play a critical role in improving childhood health behaviors and development” (CDC, 2023).
With the limited capacity and limited support around personalized surveys that are specific to a school/district/BOCES/organization's representation, healthy schools work has significantly shifted to prioritize other healthy equity initiatives, therefore, leaving a gap in the creation, development, implementation, and evaluation of healthy schools’ work.
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· allow authorized users to answer and update statewide evaluation/assessment tools digitally and at any time;
· automatically crosswalk individual and personalized surveys with statewide assessment tools;
· provide aggregate data and metrics for schools/districts/BOCES/organizations comparison at a high level;
· address assessment gaps by recommending best practices around policy, process, and programs in a whole child approach;
· and provide automated task management in executing action steps.
High-level data flow:
1. User provides existing or new responses to their school's/district's assessment tool
2. Application normalizes responses to statewide assessment
3. User compares their school, district and state via data visualizations of aggregated response data
4. Application maps responses to database of recommended action steps
5. User views, selects, and prioritizes recommended action steps for their school or district
6. User assigns action steps to appropriate personnel
7. Application tracks action steps, deadlines, and completion status
8. Application sends reminders and alerts as appropriate to optimize completion of action steps
9. User views completion status of action steps as desired
10. User updates assessment responses as action steps are completed
The P.L.A.Y. Education Corporation (PLAY Education) was created by Shannon Milliken (she/her), a former physical education teacher and mom, who through her professional and personal journey, desperately wanted to be a catalyst for educational systems change. Her inspiration was her Asian-American daughter, who will grow up and identify as a woman of color. As any caretaker, wanting what is best for children, is the most important work that we as a society, could ever do and ever invest in.
Growing up as a multi-racial adoptee in middle class, suburbia Colorado, privilege was always at the forefront of opportunity and education for Shannon. Teaching in a variety of districts and schools and working at the Colorado Department of Education allowed her to observe and experience the inequities our educational system faces, to provide diverse, equitable, and inclusive environments for children, specifically in rural, low social-economic communities. and historically marginalized and underrepresented populations.
It is Shannon's passion and enthusiasm for children, education and social justice to be the voice for the voiceless and be a driving force to support and implement innovative, creative and novel environments for students to thrive in. Shannon believes in the importance of each child needing to be seen and heard and given the same opportunities to learn, grow and excel, just as they are.
Please visit our website for more information or to see current grantees and projects.
www.theplayedcorp.com
Thank you for your time and consideration!