CA Kindergarten Oral Health Assessment (KOHA)
% of CA school districts participating in KOHA
Definition
KOHA Methodology
Note: Multiply the product by 100 to get the %
KOHA Data Sources
Numerator: System for California Oral Health Reporting (SCOHR)
Denominator: California Department of Education
Data Collection Frequency: Annual
Importance of the KOHA measure
KOHA is one of the ways schools can help children stay oral healthy. SB379 requires that children entering public school for the first time (at kindergarten or first grade) have an oral health assessment performed by a California licensed dentist or registered dental hygienist within the 12 months prior to or by May 31 of the child’s first year in public school. Compliance and participation by school districts is a critical measure for effective KOHA implementation.
Story Behind the Curve
Restricting Factors:
- Data collection and entry into the SCOHR database
- Training and Technical Assistance on SCOHR to schools and districts
- Local oral health capacity and infrastructure
- Establishing MOUs with dental professionals, schools, and districts
Contributing Factors:
- Existence of the state laws (AB1433 and SB379) and policies
- Availability of funds
- Parent, student, teacher, school nurses, dental professional participation
Anticipatory Factors:
- Availability of funds
- Availability of trained staff
- Relationships
Partners
- California Department of Education
- Schools and school districts
- California School Nurses Organization
- Local Oral Health Programs
- California Dental Association
- California Dental Hygienists' Association
- California Society of Pediatric Dentistry
- Children Now
- First 5 California
What Works
- Having a champion to inform, educate and outreach decision makers and parents
- Strenthening the policy by passing resolution supporting the oral health assessment implementation
- Developing a partnership consisting of dental professionals, local health department and school distrcts to implement screening in schools with passive consent
- Making available funds to support the administration of the assessment requirement
- Facilitating data gathering, processing and reporting
- Assessing progress and taking steps to improve performance
- Developing a care coordination system
Action Plan
|
Action |
By Whom |
By When |
|
Supporting the San Joaquin County Office of Education to establish a central registry for reporting data and train school district staff |
OOH |
2017 |
|
Working with partners to promote KOHA |
OOH, LHJs |
2019 |
|
Providing technical assistance, training, resources and toolkits |
UCSF COHTAC |
Ongoing |
|
Requiring all Local Health Jurisdictions (LHJs) to promote KOHA as part of their grant workplan objective |
LHJs |
2022 |
Intervention Activities to Meet Objectives
|
Objective |
What |
With Who |
By When |
|
Include funding for LHJs to implement KOHA (2017-2022) |
Funding |
LHJs |
2017 |
|
Establish a KOHA workgroup |
Workgroup |
Partners |
2018 |
|
Conduct annual training on KOHA |
Training |
LHJs |
2019 |
|
Develop a KOHA resource webpage and disseminate resources |
Resources |
UCSF COHTAC |
2019 |
|
Launch RBA pilots |
Preformance Management |
LHJs |
2020 |
|
Relaunch KOHA Workgroup |
Workgroup |
Partners |
2022 |
|
Update System for California Oral Health Reporting (SCOHR) to comply with new forms and update training material |
Database & Trainings |
San Joaquin County Office of Education |
2022 |
|
Include funding for LHJs to implement KOHA (2022-2027) |
Funding |
LHJs |
2022 |
|
Assess performance, publish data and identify best practices |
Report |
OOH |
Ongoing |
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