Appendix H-1 State Letter of Invitation

RECRUITMENT LETTER TO STATES

[NAME]

[ADDRESS]

[ADDRESS]

[ADDRESS]

[DATE]

Dear [STATE CONTACT]:

I am writing to inform you that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will be conducting the School Health Policies and Practices Study 2012 (SHPPS 2012) during the 2011-2012 school year. The purpose of this letter is to invite the [NAME OF AGENCY] to participate in the SHPPS 2012 and support the participation of the [# OF DISTRICTS] districts and [# OF SCHOOLS] schools in your state named on the enclosed list.

SHPPS is the largest, most comprehensive assessment of school health programs and practices and is conducted at the state, district, school, and classroom levels nationwide. Conducted every six years since 1994, SHPPS helps us to understand how schools contribute to the health and well being of our Nation’s young people and the communities they serve. The underlying assumptions behind SHPPS are that healthy students learn better; and, a healthful school environment is more conductive to learning. All 50 states and the District of Columbia are being invited to participate in SHPPS 2012, which is conducted under the authority of the Public Health Service Act (42 USC 241). Further, a national sample of approximately 1,000 districts and 1,400 schools has been randomly selected to participate in the study.

The SHPPS 2012 study will assess the characteristics of eight components of school health programs at the elementary, middle, and high school levels:

• Health education

• Physical education and activity

• Health services

• Mental health and social services

• Healthy and safe school environment

• Nutrition services

• Faculty and staff health promotion

• Family and community involvement

SHPPS does not involve a student survey. State and district staff will be asked to complete web-based surveys. Data collection from state agencies and a nationally representative sample of school districts will begin in Fall 2011. Information gathered at the state level will be reported on a state-by-state basis.

School staff will be interviewed in person during a convenient time at their school campus. Data from a nationally representative sample of schools will be collected between February and May 2012. Study procedures are designed to allow for anonymous participation; districts, schools, and staff will not be identified in any published reports.

Enclosed is an informational packet about the study, which contains questionnaire content outlines, a study fact sheet, and a respondent identification form. These items will also be included in the invitation packets sent to districts and schools. Results from SHPPS 2012 will be available by the fall of 2013 and will be available on the CDC’s web site. SHPPS data will be used to help improve school health policies and programs nationwide and to support the school health and HIV education programs CDC has supported since 1988.

Within a few days, a representative from ICF Macro will call you to confirm your state's participation in SHPPS 2012, identify the appropriate state personnel to complete the six web-based questionnaires, request a letter of support that can be used when we invite selected school districts and schools in your state to participate in the study, and discuss any questions that you might have. If you have any immediate questions please contact Alice Roberts or Tonja Kyle at ICF Macro, toll-free at 800-287-1815. You also may contact Dr. Nancy Brener of the CDC at 770-488-6184. For additional information about SHPPS, please visit the study web site: http://www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/shpps/.

Sincerely yours,

Howell Wechsler, Ed. D., M.P.H.

Director

Division of Adolescent and School Health

National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

Enclosures

cc: [STATE CDC/DASH CONTACT NAME, ORGANIZATION]

[STATE CC 1 NAME, ORGANIZATION]

[STATE CC 2 NAME, ORGANIZATION]

Nancy Brener, CDC/DASH

Alice Roberts, ICF Macro

Tonja Kyle, ICF Macro