Running Header: COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL ASSESSMENT

Nicole Olson
Comprehensive School Assessment
Arizona State University
PPE310
February 4, 2016
Dr. Lineberry

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Whitman Elementary Assessment Results

Although Whitman Elementary School was rated a D+ on the Health Assessment

tool I do believe there are some strengths found at the school. First of all, I believe
Whitman Elementary School does a great job at promoting physical activity for the staff
and educators. Twice a week, the Physical Activity teachers schedule an after school
work out and invite all teachers to attend and participate. Each time they meet, there is a
different physical activity and game that is incorporated in the hour long period. The
teachers are always very excited to join in on these activities and I think it is a really great
way to get teachers excited about physical activity. I think this strengthens the idea of
health and wellness at my school because, if we want students to be active and healthy, it
is important for them to have adult role models that model healthy lifestyles as well.

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Another strength I believe this health assessment shows about my school is the
fact that health curriculum is incorporated into my school in some ways. Currently,
Whitman Elementary is incorporating a program called Walk On where each student is
responsible for recording how much physical activity, fruits and vegetables, screen time,
and sugary beverages they consume every day. Through this challenge, which lasts a
month, students are asked to receive 5 or more servings of fruits and vegetables, less than
2 hours of screen time, at least 1 hour of physical activity, and 0 sugary drinks a day. This
challenge, which is displayed below, is meant to get students to really think about their
healthy eating habits and the physical activity that they are getting every day. Whitmans
personal challenge for their students is to meet the requirements of the challenge at least
15 days this month.

Figure 1. Ready Set Go! 5210. Multi Care.

Promoting this challenge at my school, is a really great strength that I believe helps
students understand the importance of eating healthy and exercising daily. By taking 15
minutes a day to reflect on their own habits, students are beginning to see what they are
doing well on, and where they may need some improvement.

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After reviewing the health assessment, as well as observing my school I have also
noticed that there are weaknesses regarding health and physical activity. The first
weakness I have noticed is the lunch choices that students are offered on a daily basis.
Although the school assessment tool gave Whitman Elementary 75% for lunch/recess, I
do not necessarily agree that the school lunches are healthy and beneficial for the
students. The school is always promoting that they are providing healthy food choices,
but when I walk through the cafeteria it is very clear that the food that the students are
eating was once frozen and processed. Last week, I watched my students eat funnel cake,
and then go eat ice cream. This was very alarming to me, especially because Whitman
Elementary promotes that the food they are providing is healthy. Most of the students at
my school are on free or reduced lunch; therefore they are eating the cafeteria food
everyday. For some, this may be the only food they eat at all in a day because at home
they may not be getting healthy food, or much food at all. The school lunches are very
important to the students health, and at the moment they are not living up to any healthy
standards.
The second weakness I have noticed at my school is that health initiatives and
promotion is not really incorporated after school or sent home to parents. According to
the health assessment tool, Whitman Elementary School received a 40% in the area of
after school. After seeing this result and observing my school, I do not see much parent
to school communication regarding the areas of health and fitness. At this point in time, I
am not even sure if parents are giving any information about the health initiatives that
take place at Whitman Elementary. Without any parent and school communication, there
is no opportunity for support from parents to help their students become healthier.

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I believe the first way policies can be improved at Whitman Elementary is by
strengthening the health curriculum in the classroom. If students were asked what they
did in school, a majority would say that they are learning. Very few of them would
mention anything about learning to live healthy lifestyles. Students typically learn what
the school values, and if physical activity is not valued there is little hope for students to
better understand health curriculum (Pangrazi & Beighle, 2009). There are many ways to
implement health curriculum and physical activity into the classroom on a daily basis.
First, teachers should try to take multiple brain breaks throughout the day. According to
Pangrazi and Beighle, students should receive at least two brain breaks throughout the
day. In 15 minutes students can receive more than 10% of the recommended physical
activity needed in a day (Pangrazi & Beighle, 2009). Another way to incorporate health
curriculum into the classroom is by implementing physical activity during lessons. For
example, during a math lesson on fractions, teachers can create an activity where students
must do a certain amount of jumping jacks depending on if the fraction is improper or a
mixed number. By incorporating small activities like this, teachers are not only creating
an opportunity for activity, but can also use the activity to measure student progress in the
subject. Incorporating fitness and health curriculum into the classroom is just one way to
improve the policies on health education at Whitman Elementary School.
Another way I believe policies at my school can be improved is through more
active participation of teacher related health opportunities. As mentioned, Whitman
Elementary does have an after school program specifically for teachers, but I see a lot of
room for improvement. According to a study done by Pangrazi, active teachers increase
the chances of students becoming active, (Pangrazi & Beighle, 2009). As educators we

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are constantly talking about the importance of modeling our expectations, and I believe
this is very true when it comes to health and wellness as well. In order to create a
healthier school and individual classrooms, teachers must actively promote their own
healthy lifestyle so students begin to understand the benefits.
It is important to think about the stakeholders that are involved in a healthy school
curriculum, such as parents, teachers, administration, students and the community.
According the School Assessment, Whitman Elementary scored very low in the after
school category. I personally believe this has a lot to do with the parents not being
adequately educated on health and wellness. After observing my school and asking my
mentor teacher about it, I have determined that there are little to no health education
events put on for parents. Parents are involved in many other ways at Whitman, but
physical education is not something parents are asked to partake in or learn about. I think
one way this area can be improved is by creating events there are specifically meant for
parents. These events could include workshops on the importance of physical activity and
health curriculum. Another way to involve parents is to send home a weekly or monthly
newsletter with information on healthy eating habits and activities that can be done in the
home.
Another stakeholder I believe is really important is the community as a whole.
There are so many events held within in any single community that help promote healthy
lifestyles such as walks, farmers markets, and marathons. As a future educator I believe it
is crucially important to communicate with the community about the health initiatives we
are trying to incorporate at my school. By having a relationship with the community my
students and myself are a part of something bigger than our classroom. One way to get

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the community involved is to take students to events such as farmers markets and walk-athons to show them that a healthy lifestyle does not, and should not stop in the classroom.
The information I have gathered and analyzed will be extremely beneficial and
will help support my Signature Assignment. The topic I am hoping to focus on is how
sleep deprivation affects academic performance. Many of my students come to class
extremely tired and it is clear that it affects their academic performance. More than once,
I have had a student raise their hand while I was teaching and tell me that they are too
tired to focus on the lesson. This is extremely alarming to me, and I am looking forward
to figuring out how to improve this area in my classroom. One way that I believe this
issue can be resolved is through brain breaks and incorporating more movement into my
lessons. The information from the school assessment as well as my own observations has
created a wonderful base for my Signature Assignment.
School Information
I am completing my senior year residency at Whitman Elementary School in the
Mesa Public School District. This school is K-8 and I am student teaching in a 4th and 5th
grade English Language Development classroom. In the year 2014, the enrollment at
Whitman Elementary was 683 students. School Digger gave a great overview of the
racial makeup of Whitman Elementary School in the year 2014. The Hispanic population
was 54%, the Caucasian population was 15%, the American Indian population was 22%,
and the African American population was 5%. The graph below gives a great visual
representation of the demographics of Whitman Elementary School.

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Figure 2. Ethnicity Comparison. School Digger.

According to School Digger, Whitman Elementary has a 87.7% free and reduced
lunch ratio, which means it is considered a Title I school. The student teacher ratio at my
school is 15.9, which is the 5th best among all 55 elementary schools found in the Mesa
Public School District. Whitman Elementary School is an urban public school and has an
average class size of about 30 students. In the year 2014 Whitman Elementary was rated
as a B school but just recently has become an A+ school. In the year 2015, 32% of
students at Whitman passed the AZ Merit test with a proficient score, which is lower than
the state average. After discussing it with the Principal, it has been determined that
approximately 25% of the students at Whitman Elementary School are ELLs but only
about `5% are receiving language specific services.

School Assessment can also be found on my E-portfolio website:

http://nicoleolsonelementaryeducation.weebly.com/healthy-leadership.html

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References
Gopher. (2016). Retrieved from http://www.gophersport.com/resources/active-healthyschools
Pangrazi, R., & Beighle, A. (2009). Promoting Physical Activity and Health In The
Classroom. San Francisco, CA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Ready, Set, Go! 5210. (n.d.). Retrieved February 06, 2016, from
http://www.multicare.org/mary-bridge-5210/
Whitman Elementary School (2014). School Digger. Retrieved February 4, 2016 from
http://www.schooldigger.com/go/AZ/schools/0497000420/school.aspx?
t=tbStudents&st=tbSTR

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PPE 310 Healthy and Active Schools, Assessment and School Context
Rubric