Our project STREETS stands for school travel environment evaluation in Texas schools.

The streets
project is funded by the National Institutes of Health. The purpose of the study is to examine how the
environments around the school help influence children's health and safety particularly when you're
looking at environmental improvements like bike lanes and pedestrian walkways, crosswalks and also
programs such as Safe Routes to School.

The streets study is a project that is looking at how the changes in roads and infrastructure in your school
can make it easier for kids to walk and bike to school, which makes for a healthier community for all.
We're looking for third grade students and their parents in your community to participate.

Our project started in 2018 and we'll continue to recruit schools and parents through the 2019-2020
school year. This project will be conducted at no cost to you and all information that we collect including
any information about you or your child or your school will be kept private.

Information and consent forms will be sent home to parents families who live within one mile of the school
and choose to participate will complete a parent survey, a child survey, and kids will wear activity
monitors for seven days. This will happen once in the third grade, once in the fourth grade and twice in
the fifth grade. Eligible third graders will wear an activity monitor and G.P.S. device on a belt for seven
days.

The belts are delivered to students on a day in time that is convenient for the school. Parents will help
their child charge the G.P.S. device and fill out a short log each night. The G.P.S. device is not an active
monitoring of the child's location. Study staff will only use the information to objectively see routes to and
from school. A participant's address will never be shared. After wearing the belt for seven days the
students will be asked to take a short survey which is read aloud to them in a group setting. The surveys
are available in English and Spanish and will include multiple choice questions on physical activity, active
commuting, and safety. The measurement team will assist students as necessary.

Our staff have all had background checks and they are certified in human subjects research as well as
FERPA regulations. We would like to thank you for your valuable time and effort in helping us complete
this important project. All parents children and schools that participate in this project will receive money
and small gifts for their involvement.

Your participation in this project can help your school your community and communities all over Texas
become healthier. Active commuting is an important part of getting physical activity and having an
engaged and dynamic community.

We also will use these data to make important decisions about how we can structure the environment
around schools to make your children healthier and safer. We at the Center have been doing school
based research for over 25 years. We really appreciate your help in this effort as we hope that studies like
this will help us realize our vision of healthy children in a healthy world.