Center for School Health Innovation & Quality

The Center for School Health Innovation & Quality recently received a grant from the Moses Taylor Foundation to investigate two critical issues in school nursing: staffing and funding. In particular, the project will focus on the 11 counties in Northeastern PA served by Moses Taylor Foundation to learn about current school nurse staffing level (including the impact of COVID), the availability and process for obtaining substitute school nurses, as well as investigate the pipeline for new school nurses. Current funding models for school nursing will also be investigated in the 11 counties. The Center will also conduct a national assessment to learn of alternative models for staffing, substitutes, recruiting new school nurses, and funding models for school nurses that could be applied in northeastern PA. Data will be collected through publicly available data sources, a national survey, key informant interviews, focus groups, and a think tank. Although the project focuses on northeastern PA, the results will be informative to districts across the United States. This project leverages the research strengths, school nursing expertise, and innovation skills of the Center’s staff.