Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication and Public Health Messaging in K-12 Schools
What is Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication (CERC)?
Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication (CERC) practices in public health come from planning and responding to natural disasters, emergencies, and other events with consequences for health and illness.
What Will You Learn?
CERC practice can help school administrators and designated staff prepare to communicate more effectively in an emergency and keep their school community safe.
Complete the training at your own pace!
This is an asynchronous training. This means that you’ll be able to complete the training at any time that is convenient for you. We estimate it will take 1.5 to 2 hours to complete.
This training is free of charge. There is no registration requirement.
Start the Training
Select the “Start Training” link below to begin taking the course. You will have completed the training when you have finished the Introduction and all 5 modules.
This course is designed to be completed sequentially (i.e., complete Module 1 before Module 2 and so on). For the best experience, we recommend completing the course in one sitting. Module progress is not saved.
The course will open in a new tab.
Training Course Information
Who should take this training?
This course is intended for K-12 school staff and district staff who are responsible for the development and dissemination of critical and time-sensitive information to stakeholders including students, staff, faculty, families, and the community regarding public health emergencies occurring in the school setting.
This training is for you if you are a:
- Principal/Head of School
- Vice/Assistant Principal
- School/Program Director
- Director of Community Outreach
- Chief Administrator of School Leadership
- Superintendent
- Vice/Assistant Superintendent
- Athletic Director
- School Nurse
- Communications and Marketing Director/Coordinator
- Other K-12 School Staff (e.g., Teacher, front Office Staff)
- Local Health Department Staff/School Partners
By the end of the training, you should be able to:
- Develop Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication (CERC) for K-12 schools using the 10-step process of ACTIVE MAPS
- Create effective messages using a message map
You will learn how to:
- Describe the 3 goals of Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication
- Summarize the process of developing Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication messages using the ACTIVE MAPS steps
- Identify the needs of target audiences of Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication messages
- Summarize the key components of a message map
- Deliver key messages with supporting facts
- Identify appropriate framing, wording, and message prioritization
- Identify appropriate channels for communication dissemination
- Apply good risk communication principles to address rumors, disinformation and/or misinformation
- Describe the foundational principles of Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication
Continuing Education Units
Continuing Education Units (CEUs) are not available for this course.
Who do I contact if I have a question about this training?
Please contact the VTA+ Schools team at vta.uc.schools@gmail.com
Accommodations: Our goal is to create trainings that are accessible to people with disabilities. If you experience a barrier in this course, please tell us by sending an email to: vta.uc.accessibility@gmail.com.