Promising Practices
The Promising Practices database informs professionals and community members about documented approaches to improving community health and quality of life.
The ultimate goal is to support the systematic adoption, implementation, and evaluation of successful programs, practices, and policy changes. The database provides carefully reviewed, documented, and ranked practices that range from good ideas to evidence-based practices.
Learn more about the ranking methodology.
Filed under Good Idea, Education / Childcare & Early Childhood Education, Urban
Goal: The mission of Project GRAD is to provide quality public school education for at-risk children in low-income communities and to increase high school and college graduation rates among these populations.
Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Student Performance K-12, Children, Teens
Goal: The goal of Project SOAR is to promote academic success among youth at Galveston Elementary School.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Cancer, Adults, Rural
Goal: The goal of the PREP computerized reminder system is to increase colorectal cancer screening.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Children's Health, Adults, Families, Urban
Goal: The goal of the project was to increase the number of students current with school-required immunizations through utilization of the state immunization registry and increasing the number of parental consent forms received for immunization in School-Located Vaccine Clinics.
Impact: Of 2,015 children not in compliance with school immunization policies, 1,094 (54%) were brought into compliance through state immunization registry records or immunization in School-Located Vaccine Clinics.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Education / Student Performance K-12, Children, Teens, Families
Goal: The Raising Healthy Children program is a social development approach to positive youth development.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Cancer, Women, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Goal: The goal of this program is to encourage low-income African American and Hispanic women to seek early breast and cervical cancer screening.
Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Student Performance K-12, Teens
Goal: The Reconnecting Youth program has three main goals: 1) increase school performance; 2) decrease drug involvement; and 3) decrease suicide-risk behaviors.
Impact: Significant increases in positive connections with teachers, friends, and family members; significant improvements in GPA; lasting reductions in hard drug use; decreases in anger-control problems; reductions in depression and hopelessness; and increases in enhancing personal control were observed.
Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Student Performance K-12, Children, Teens
Goal: The goal of Ripple Effects is to use technology to prevent social injury and promote school and life success for children and teenagers.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban
Goal: The goals of the program are: 1) to promote abstinence maintenance among sexually abstinent students and encourage safer sex practices to sexually active students, 2) compare the effect of RAPP when taught by different providers, and 3) to explore the factors that impact a student's decision to engage in sexual activity.
Impact: Regular teacher-taught male (p=.001) and female students (p=.05) and peer-taught male students (p=.02) had the highest rates of delaying the onset of sexual activity.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Children
Goal: To create a sustainable school lunch program that incorporated healthier food items by leveraging the combined efforts of several school districts.