America Walks: HOME

June 24, 2008 Webinar Questions

1. "opt-in" permission slips get a notoriously low return. Are they necessary?? or can we use "opt-out"?

You can use what you want: schools decide usually according to prior policy. We provide a ready made form with all the information included – they fill out the date, and decide if they want a opt in or opt out response.

2. What's the deal with the orange/yellow vests? I mean how realistic is it that kids and adults will be wearing bright orange vests? Or is that just to increase the safety during the training? How serious am I going to feel wearing a bright orange vest?

These are used only during the training, although there has been talk of having a fun, bright thing worn by kids who walk to school to raise driver awareness of the local SRTS effort.

Why wear then: They are very visible to drivers (who we want to notice us and hopefully be nice), they are associated with safety, kids like wearing them, we role model by wearing them, and who says we have to feel serious?

3. What are CORI checks

Google this for much more information about where to file in your state. They are criminal history background checks. They stay confidential with the agency requiring them (the school or school district). I don’t believe they indicate a specific crime but that you are or are not on record as having been convicted of one.

4. Which transit agencies have used your program? State DOT

(here it is EOT).

5. Does Walk Boston offer any pedestrian safety training for adults - or, do you incorporate the message into the fun and interesting walks you sponsor?

Not as a separate program per se; we talk a lot about why places are safe or not safe for walkers too, and how to advocate to alter the unsafe places.

6. Program Evaluation? What's been done on this model? Academic researchers I work with won't do anything like this program with kids under 10--they state that it's not supported by research.

There is lots of evidence that hands-on learning is far superior to reading, listening or watching: doing is the best teacher. So if we decide that this is important, then we need to take up the charge and fill the gaps, and if parents and schools want to do it, then our choice is to teach them this experientially rather than only with curriculum on paper or screen.

If you know of an academic institution that might want to support a study of this program of that level and caliber, I’m sure we’d be more than pleased to abide.

7. 30 minutes doesn't seem like enough time. Also, repeat "doses" of training like this seem wise.

There is always more to do. However, we have some constraints to doing it all. The main one is that it needs to fit into a school day and 30 minutes works well for everyone, including the children. Anything longer could require a repeat visit and yet another day of volunteer time. Which we would do given more resources, perhaps, and unlimited access to volunteers. Our repeat strategy is to leave a safety tips sheet to send home to parents, ask the school to reinforce in PE and in their walk to school campaign messages, and then to re-visit the school and do a second training in one school year.

8. Why is the training for second graders? The issue is that we have mostly Kindergarteners and First Graders walking in our school in our second year of Walking School Buses.

Any age can benefit. In your case, a safety training for a younger age might make sense.

Every situation is different. This decision is based on what we experience with children, what child development tells us they are ready to learn, wanting to catch children early, wanting to do it soon before they may begin to walk alone (despite research findings), and before they have formed bad habits. We simply can’t reach every grade in a school with our budget and staff, so we are simply being strategic about where to generally target our resources.

9. What evaluations did you conduct or literature did you use in determining the 2nd grade level? One other pedestrian safety program that does a combination of in class and outside activities demonstrated the greatest knowledge gain among children between K-1 grade students, did you consider these findings?

Is there objective evidence for the students come to school more ready to learn argument? Some of our schools want to see the data before accepting that selling point. Is there any follow up with the second graders to reinforce or improve retention of the learning

There is much more data and research being completed that shows a positive relationship between outdoor activity, and/or physical education, and learning and cognition. A great resource is the Robert Wood Johnson projects and research. You might also do a literature research at the major social science, child development and other journals.

For me, it is bit self evident that between a child sitting in a vehicle and one walking, the latter will have blood and oxygen pumping into their brain, their lungs and heart working, muscles flexing, and more alertness because they are interacting with their environment rather than viewing things passively – if they are paying attention at all. If you break up what is happening physically, cognitively, socially during a walk, and compare to research on what benefits children in general, then there is strong evidence this is good for them.

My challenge would be for someone to show the research that being driven helps learning and cognition, and until then, we shouldn’t settle for it, especially given the counter evidence that kids and parents need physical activity, we need less traffic, less cars around school areas, less pollution, and to conserve gas and energy.

10. We know that children don't develop the skills needed to cross a street until at least age 10. Therefore as safety experts we advise parents not to let their kids cross the street alone until they are at least age 10. I am concerned that this program encourages children to walk before it is developmentally appropriate.

We are aware of those findings. We are not trying to replace parents in any way, and make it clear to all that the goal is not to walk alone, but to walk safe – no matter what. We also do not let the children walk alone during our walks but to always rely on the adults who they are with at all times. In the end, these children are under the supervision of teachers and parents, (or should be) and the only people who decide if they should walk alone or not will be their parents. It is like swimming lessons: children learn to swim safely but do not actually swim without adult supervision before they are ready. No good swim instructor would tell a child or a parent that they will arbitrate when a child should swim alone. But building early skills goes a long way in helping to prevent accidents and to instill early values of safety: we only hope that parents will reinforce what we teach.

11. What tactics did you use to get the parents involved/to volunteer? What obstacles did you encounter and what were the solutions?

They were sent letters and notices, and phone calls, and then they arrived. Word of mouth and principal buy in are two large factors of success. When a principal calls, parents pay closer attention. Plus, this is a fun activity that only takes a short time and is really valuable.

In lower-income areas, we simply worked with fewer parents-- as both parents needed to work during the day. We’ve translated materials and used a translator at some trainings so that language was not a barrier for parents, students or schools to receive the training.

12. Who do you work with at the school to create the day's schedule? Are the slides available for download? Where did you obtain the safety vests? For how much? And how many does the program require?

Go to americawalks.org to find the .pdf and other versions.

You can get safety vests at tons of places: Google “safe vests.” Ours were bought many moons ago. My last Google came up with $2.80 per vest. Since you can reuse for field trips or other activities, and over many years, it is a good investment to show that safety is taken seriously. You need as many as there are children in the largest classroom – or as many as the number of children you want to wear them at one time.

13. What age students do you use as interns?

We’ve been lucky to get doctoral candidates – but students in their early 20’s should do fine. We wouldn’t use someone we didn’t check thoroughly, were not recommended by their school or other references, and which showed any lack of care or attention or interest in young children. They are trained more rigorously and repeating the students walks several times at different schools, so become experts over a short time.

14. It's fantastic that you can get that many volunteers! How do you do it? Any specific marketing material that you've found works the best?

Parents: this is needed, it is important, it is only ½ or one day of time total, you’ll get a lunch, you’ll get to walk and teach kids (which is the #1 thing they report back to us as being their favorite aspect). Your principal wants this and is calling on you.

15. Where is your funding coming from for the pedestrian education program?

Many and varied sources: private and public foundations, the state department of transportation (through MassRIDES), local school parent groups, bike and pedestrian advocacy organizations, public health agencies – to name a few.

16 Do you find this works for all grade levels or is a walking program best for elementary schools.

 

Too basic for older kids and unlikely to change these habits then. Best to reach young children – we decided that 2^nd grade was optimal. See other questions for more on this.



17. How do you teach communicating with drivers? Specifically how should students deal with drivers that stop and wave them across the street?

 

First look all other ways, wait until all drivers stop, look back to first driver if they are stopped still. If there is no traffic, just wave the driver on and then cross when there are no cars around.

18. What kind of follow up assessment do you do to determine effect?

 

First question evaluation of parents; second visit prompts with children from parents and qualitative information from parents that children remembered the first trip, the lessons, and even who they walked with and what they wore that day.

19. What are the biggest barriers to starting a SRTS program, specifically Walking School Bus?

20. We are in a very rural area of Alaska. Would the material apply to us (no street lights, only 2 main intersecting roads)?

 

If there are moving cars, driveways, places that block visibility, parking lots, no sidewalks, places with no crosswalks, and speeding drivers – then yes, this pertains to you. And if children use those two intersections, then it would be good to teach them how to do it safely, since they won’t be doing it very often.

21. Can you provide a copy of the curriculum you are using for your pedestrian safety training program?

 

It is on our web site at www.walkboston.org as part of the How to start your own SRTS Program toolkit .pdf.

22. This takes time away from the 3R's, which are the big focus in schools. How do you get support from schools to do that?

 

We try to stress that the actual time that students are out of class adds up to a grand total of 30 minutes over the entire fall/early winter session– or late winter/spring. Sometimes teachers balk at anything requiring more time of them, but the program is designed to be done without any teacher time, (aside from being a general purveyor of the safety message). When the rubber meets the road, we find that teachers are glad to get a break, or to have some more time outdoors with children, or to teach them good rules for safety, and encourage them to get physical activity. Don’t be put off by initial resistance and get your principal on board and an active, outspoken parent if possible. Find one willing school, do a great job, and show it off to the next. Soon others will be clamoring for it too.