BACKGROUND: School personnel may lack knowledge of diabetes and be unprepared to address the needs of students with type 1 diabetes. This project evaluated the effectiveness of a type 1 diabetes education program for school personnel on increasing knowledge of diabetes and confidence in caring for students with diabetes. METHODS: Two types of diabetes education programs were created for school personnel. The basic program provided a 60‐minute overview of diabetes. The expanded program, intended for volunteer health aides, provided participants with a more in‐depth overview of diabetes during a 180‐minute session, including demonstrations of how to assist students with insulin injections. Instruments were created to assess changes in diabetes‐related knowledge and confidence in caring for students. Separate knowledge instruments were created for the basic and expanded programs. Knowledge instruments were administered before and after delivery of the education programs to both groups. Confidence instruments were administered before and after for persons completing the expanded program. RESULTS: A total of 81 school personnel participated in the basic (N = 44) or expanded programs (N = 37). Overall knowledge regarding diabetes significantly increased in both the basic and expanded programs from baseline (p < .001). Confidence in caring for students with diabetes also increased from pretest to posttest, both for overall confidence and each individual item (p < .001). CONCLUSIONS: Educational programs offered for school personnel can lead to increased knowledge and increased confidence in caring for students with diabetes, which may assist school personnel in addressing the needs of students with diabetes.

Objective. To implement an active-learning methodology for teaching diabetes care to pharmacy students and evaluate its effectiveness. Design. Laboratory instruction was divided into 4 primary areas of diabetes care, referred to by the mnemonic, the 4 M's: meal planning, motion, medication, and monitoring. Students participated in skill-based learning laboratory stations and in simulated patient experiences. A pretest, retrospective pretest, and posttest were administered to measure improvements in students' knowledge about diabetes and confidence in providing care to diabetes patients. Assessment. Students knowledge of and confidence in each area assessed improved. Students enjoyed the laboratory session and felt it contributed to their learning.Conclusion. An active-learning approach to teaching diabetes care allowed students to experience aspects of the disease from the patient's perspective. This approach will be incorporated in other content areas.