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Gregory Austin
Director, Health & Human Development Program
Gregory Austin serves as Program Director of WestEd's Health and Human Development Program (HHDP), which works with schools, families, and communities to promote positive youth development, academic achievement, health, and well-being.
Austin oversees a variety of health-related and youth development projects, addressing issues such as alcohol and other drug use, violence, teen pregnancy and sexual behavior, and delinquency.
He currently directs the California Healthy Kids Survey project, which is designed to provide assistance to every school district in California in collecting and using data on health-risk behavior and youth assets. This California Department of Education-funded survey has led to a better understanding of the relationship between students' health behaviors and academic performance, and is frequently cited by state policymakers and in the media. Austin and his CHKS staff help schools and districts ensure CHKS is part of a comprehensive data-driven decision-making process to help guide the development of more effective health, prevention, and youth development programs.
Austin cowrote WestEd's Ensuring That No Child Is Left Behind: How Are Student Health Risks & Resilience Related to the Academic Progress of Schools? Based on CHKS data, this report underscores the importance to academic achievement of key risk and youth development factors. Austin and his CHKS staff also have written a number of brief research reports based on the survey data. These reports, disseminated to policymakers and other key leaders statewide, focus on topics such as health risks, resilience, and the Academic Performance Index; substance use among youth in foster and relative care; bias-related harassment among students; and risk behaviors and problems among youth in nontraditional schools.
In 2000, Austin and his CHKS staff received the WestEd Paul D. Hood Award for Distinguished Contribution to the Profession.
Under Austin's leadership, HHDP staff also implement effective approaches to preventing problem behaviors among youth. Currently, HHDP staff are evaluating the first state legislation designed to help counter the rise in adolescent obesity, improve the nutritional content of school meals, and encourage daily physical activity.
While at WestEd, Austin has directed nine major California biennial state student risk-behavior surveys, two California state surveys of school dropouts and youth at risk of academic failure, and numerous local school surveys. Previously, Austin served as a prevention specialist for the Western Regional Center for Drug-Free Schools and Communities.
Austin has more than 20 years of experience in the study of alcohol and other drug use as a historian, epidemiologist, and prevention specialist. Over the years, he has received numerous federal research grants to study ethnic differences in adolescent alcohol and other drug use and the history of alcohol and other drug use. He is the author and editor of research articles, resource tools, and prevention guides, and frequently presents his work at conferences nationwide.
He received a BA and an MA in history from the University of California, Riverside, and a PhD in history from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Tel: 562.799.5155 562.799.5151
Email: gaustin@wested.org
Mailing Address:
4665 Lampson Avenue
Los Alamitos, California 90720-5139
Resource Involvement:
Alternative Education Options: A Descriptive Study of California Continuation High Schools
Ensuring That No Child Is Left Behind: How Are Student Health Risks & Resilience Related to the Academic Progress of Schools?
Related Press Releases:
Gregory Austin Honored by California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs
Related News:
California Healthy Kids Survey Can Adapt to Schools' Needs
WestEd Surveys Featured in NBC's Education Nation
Director's Award for Innovative and Effective Research Approaches
California Healthy Kids Survey Helps Expand Kidsdata.org
WestEd Workbook Helps Teachers and School Leaders Gain Better Understanding of School Survey Data
Local Obesity Data from WestEd's California Healthy Kids Survey Cited
Napa Police Department Draws from WestEd's California Healthy Kids Survey Data
Community Alliance Network Uses WestEd's California Healthy Kids Survey Data
California Healthy Kids Survey Makes the Grade
WestEd's California Healthy Kid Survey Provides Local Community Data
WestEd's California Healthy Kid Survey Provides Data for Policymakers
California Healthy Kids Survey Shows More Teens Understand Smoking Risks
California Healthy Kids Survey Data Informs Local Law Enforcement
Trinity High School to Address Trends Uncovered by WestEd's California Healthy Kids Survey
Los Angeles Group Uses WestEd's California Healthy Kids Survey Data to Target Parents
WestEd's California Healthy Kids Survey Data Informs Local Action
WestEd's Healthy Kids Survey Helps Local School Districts Identify Challenges
WestEd's Healthy Kids Survey Supplies Research Data for Policy Makers
WestEd's California Healthy Kids Survey Provides Reliable Data
Online Videos, PowerPoint Presentations Made Available
California Healthy Kids Survey Exposes Student Risks
2006 California Student Survey Results Reveal Challenges
WestEd Joins State Capitol Press Conference
WestEd Evaluates Nutrition Education Program
Recommendations Presented to the Governor's Prevention Advisory Council
WestEd's California Healthy Kids Survey Spurs Action
Petaluma, California Acts on Results: California Healthy Kids Survey
WestEd's California Healthy Kids Survey Results Announced
WestEd's California Healthy Kids Survey Provides Critical Data
WestEd Report Helps Spark Substance Abuse Programs
