| Course | HD545 Health Education Program Implementation |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 9 |
| Paper type | Sustainability plan |
| Length | About 850 words, 6 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | MS in Health Education |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for HD545 Unit 9
Carried, Absorbed or Allowed to End: A Unit 9 Sustainability Plan for Steady Ground After Carrow County's State Grant
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
HD545: Health Education Program Implementation
Unit 9 Sustainability Plan
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
Carrow County, its planning team and every score and cost are composite; the sustainability tool and frameworks cited are real.
Assessment
A nine-person planning team completed the Program Sustainability Assessment Tool, which rates capacity for sustainability across eight domains on a scale of one to seven (Luke et al., 2014). The team included the district health coordinator, two principals, two health teachers, a counselor, an assistant principal, the county domestic violence agency's prevention director and a parent.
Domain scores, averaged across members: partnerships 5.4; organizational capacity 4.6; program adaptation 4.4; communications 3.8; program evaluation 3.6; environmental support 3.5; strategic planning 2.4; funding stability 2.1.
The tool's domains follow a framework that treats sustainability as a matter of capacity built during implementation, not something arranged when funding ends (Schell et al., 2013). The two lowest domains, funding stability and strategic planning, set the plan's priorities.
Three Lists
The plan sorts every element of the program, using the core components analysis from Unit 3 to decide what must survive.
Carried by the district budget: Printed student materials and scenario cards, about $4,200 a year. A coach role at 0.2 of a full-time post, written into the health coordinator's job description so that coaching continues without a separate position. Annual August training for new staff, led by the two certified district coaches.
Absorbed into existing jobs and procedures: The building component. Adult posts at the most-mapped locations become part of each school's safety plan and duty roster, reviewed each August when rosters are set. Hot-spot mapping moves into the first month of advisory each year. The teacher log moves into the district's learning platform, where teachers already record attendance. Disclosure training joins the district's annual mandated reporter training. The partnership with the county domestic violence agency continues under a memorandum of understanding, with its youth advocate's time funded by the agency's own prevention budget.
Allowed to end: The external evaluator. The district will track fidelity and the youth survey results itself. Stipends for after-school training. Training moves into contracted professional development days. Catered parent evenings. The recorded video and online question session continue.
Every core component of Steady Ground appears in the first two lists, and everything in the third list is something the curriculum can work without, which is the test a sustainability plan must pass before it decides what to let go.
Addressing Funding Stability
The funding stability score reflects one source, the state grant. The plan adds two. The district's general fund absorbs printing and the coach role, about $19,000 a year including salary share. The county agency covers the youth advocate. The district will also apply to the state's school safety fund for a one-time grant for new materials in year five.
Addressing Strategic Planning
The board of education will adopt Steady Ground as the district's middle school dating violence curriculum in year two, which places it in the curriculum cycle rather than in a grant program. Each school's improvement plan will name the building component.
Timeline
Year one: PSAT scoring; coach role drafted into job description; logs moved into the learning platform. Year two: board adoption; safety plans revised; memorandum with the county agency signed; two coaches certified. Year three: external evaluator's final report; district takes over fidelity monitoring; grant-funded items end in June.
Sustainability actions start in year one, not year three. A review of sustainability research identifies early planning and integration into routine operations among the factors associated with programs that last (Shelton et al., 2018).
Measuring Sustainability
The planning team will repeat the assessment tool each spring. The target for year three is a funding stability score of at least 4.0 and a strategic planning score of at least 4.5. The district will also track three plain indicators each year after the grant: whether all four schools deliver at least eight sessions, whether adults are present at mapped locations in spot checks and whether new staff complete training before teaching. If any indicator falls for two years in a row, the planning team meets to decide whether to restore funding, change the program or end it openly.
What Sustained Means Here
Sustainability does not mean keeping every element exactly as it was. The plan defines sustained as continued delivery of the core components with fidelity, at all four schools, with student outcomes monitored. Some adaptable elements will change and some grant-funded supports will end, and that is expected.
Risks
A new superintendent or a budget cut could remove the coach role. The plan's response is to keep the role in a job description rather than as a separate line. If the board does not adopt the curriculum, the plan will be reviewed by the planning team the following spring. If the county agency's prevention budget is cut, counselors will refer students to the agency's hotline until the advocate's time can be restored.
References
Luke, D. A., Calhoun, A., Robichaux, C. B., Elliott, M. B., & Moreland-Russell, S. (2014). The Program Sustainability Assessment Tool: A new instrument for public health programs. Preventing Chronic Disease, 11, 130184. https://doi.org/10.5888/pcd11.130184
Schell, S. F., Luke, D. A., Schooley, M. W., Elliott, M. B., Herbers, S. H., Mueller, N. B., & Bunger, A. C. (2013). Public health program capacity for sustainability: A new framework. Implementation Science, 8, 15. https://doi.org/10.1186/1748-5908-8-15
Shelton, R. C., Cooper, B. R., & Stirman, S. W. (2018). The sustainability of evidence-based interventions and practices in public health and health care. Annual Review of Public Health, 39, 55-76. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-040617-014731
Reading the HD 545 Unit 9 instructions
The ninth unit usually asks students to assess a program's sustainability and plan how it will continue after initial funding. Prompts often ask for an assessment tool, an analysis of strengths and weaknesses, strategies for each and a timeline. Use a published tool where possible and report scores by domain. Use your core components analysis to decide what must survive. Sort elements into those funded, those absorbed into existing roles and procedures, and those allowed to end. Address the lowest-scoring domains directly. Start actions early. Define what sustained means for your program and how you will know. Eight to ten pages with a summary table is typical. Name who is on the team that scores the tool, since their roles shape the scores.
Inside the HD545 Unit 9 example
A summary of the assessment tool opens the plan, listing the planning team and scores for all eight domains. Three lists follow: items carried by the district budget, such as $4,200 a year in materials and a coach role in the coordinator's job description; items absorbed, such as adult posts in each school's safety plan; and items allowed to end, such as the external evaluator. The highlighted sentence links these decisions to the core components. Sections address funding stability and strategic planning, including board adoption in year two. A timeline, measures of sustainability, a definition of sustained and risks close the plan.
HD545 Unit 9 rubric: what earns full points
Sustainability plans are generally graded on use of an assessment tool, alignment with core components, realism of funding and integration strategies, early action and a way to monitor sustainability. Tool use earns credit when scores drive priorities. Alignment rewards plans in which every core component survives. Realism is judged on named funding sources and specific procedures that absorb work. Early action scores well when steps begin in the first year. Monitoring rewards indicators and a decision rule for review. Instructors also value a plan willing to let non-core elements end. Clear tables and APA citations complete the grade. Instructors often look for a contingency if a key funder or leader changes.
HD545 Unit 9 help: mistakes that cost points
A common weakness is a plan that assumes another grant will arrive. Another is treating sustainability as a final-year task. Some plans try to keep everything, which is rarely affordable, while others cut a core component to save money. Many leave out how anyone will know whether the program has lasted. Sorting each element against the core components analysis makes the hard choices easier to defend. If your program has a different funding picture, share the sources and costs, and our writers can help you sort elements into the three lists. Starting at least one sustainability action in the first year is also a simple test of whether the plan is serious.
Get an HD545 Unit 9 example written to your instructions
Tell us when your HD545 program's funding ends, which components the earlier units classed as core, and what the host organization already budgets for, plus the Unit 9 prompt and rubric. A free first custom sample, back in 24-48h, sorts every element into carried, absorbed or ended, with owners and costs. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
More HD545 papers and MS in Health Education samples
- HD545 Unit 1: Discussion Board Post
- HD545 Unit 2: Implementation Framework Application
- HD545 Unit 3: Core Components Analysis
- HD545 Unit 4: Readiness Assessment
- HD545 Unit 5: Adaptation Documentation
- HD545 Unit 6: Seminar Reflection
- HD545 Unit 7: Fidelity Monitoring System
- HD545 Unit 8: Training and Capacity Plan
- HD545 Unit 10: Implementation Plan
- HD535 Unit 9: Resource and Timeline Plan
- HD520 Unit 9: Limitations Analysis
HD545 Unit 9 questions, answered
What is the Program Sustainability Assessment Tool?
A published self-assessment developed at Washington University in St. Louis that rates a program's capacity for sustainability across eight domains, including funding stability, partnerships and strategic planning, on a seven-point scale. Teams usually complete it together and discuss the scores. Its value in a plan lies in pointing to the weakest domains, which then set the plan's priorities.
Is it acceptable for parts of a program to end?
Often it is the sign of a realistic plan. Grant-funded programs carry elements that were useful at launch but are not core, such as external evaluators or incentives. Letting them end deliberately, and showing that core components survive without them, is more credible than promising everything. The key is naming what ends and why it can.
When should sustainability planning start?
At the beginning of implementation, not in the final year. Embedding a program in budgets, job descriptions and routine procedures takes time, and some steps, such as board adoption, follow fixed calendars. The example starts sustainability actions in year one. A plan written only as funding ends usually has too little time left to change anything.
Where can I find a free HD545 Unit 9 sample paper?
This page carries a complete Unit 9 sustainability plan that sorts a curriculum's elements into carried, absorbed and allowed to end.
What does absorbed into existing procedures mean?
A program task becomes part of work the organization already does, such as adult posts written into a school's safety plan. It no longer needs separate funding to continue.