I've always said First Aid should be free; with each person who learns First Aid, society becomes a little safer. In that spirit, my eighth Advent Policy Brief suggests high school graduation requirements include certification as a First Responder. Accidentally, this brief turned into Red Cross advertorial.
A First Responder certificate is an advanced First Aid certificate ~3x longer/more in-depth than Standard First Aid and CPR. After 40 hours of class, a First Responder course requires completing a standardized test with a 75% minimum score. First Responder training is designed for fire service, rescue teams, workplace response teams, sports-medicine professionals, lifeguards, or ski patrol.
The first few times I took Standard First Aid, there was a test component, but testing at that level has fallen out of practice. If the First Responder certificate is going to be integrated into public schools, there needs to be an evaluation to test if the delivery methods employed are imparting the subject matter effectively.
I dream of a graduating class where every student has a First Repsonder certificate. The longer this program runs, the more likely someone in your periphery will know what to do in an emergency.
I'm certain an economist could calculate health and public safety savings orders of magnitude larger than investment costs of a week-long curriculum tweak. I should tweet this at Stephen Lecce..
*I will come back and ALT text this later. I'm tired..