Erin Krause

Comprehensive School Assessment

PPE 310
September 12, 2015

Assessment Results
Overall Grade: F
During School: 80%
Keep going! You're already well on your way to an Active & Healthy Schools environment. Get
teachers and staff involved, perhaps introduce some additional activities, and you'll be looking
great!

Curriculum: 20%
Let's get to work. The Active & Healthy Schools Program is committed to creating programs that
schools can successfully implement and maintain. Let's look at some possibilities for your PE
program.

Recess / Lunch: 100%

Terrific! With a solid nutritional program and sufficient physical activity, students acquire the
habits of the Active & Healthy Program and can provide a positive example to others.

After School: 40%

Room for improvement. Use Active & Healthy communications (such as a newsletter) to
encourage AHS fundamentals and have a significant impact on students' activity choices.

1. What are at least two strengths and two weaknesses of your school?
One strength of my school would be the kindness from the entire staff and the second is
how well the kindergarten teachers work together as a team. One of the weaknesses of my
school would be that the students do not get enough time for P.E. each week. The second
would be that although the principal wants to make sure that healthy snacks are available to
the students, its not promoted with posters or pictures throughout the school.
2. Describe each strength and weakness based on your observation/experience as well as your
results from the School Assessment Tool.
One thing that really stood out to me within my first few days at Copper Canyon was
how friendly and welcoming everyone was. There werent any kids there yet, so it was just
the teachers and staff getting things ready for the school year to begin. I was introduced to
everyone by the principal at a staff meeting. After the meeting was over and throughout the
rest of the week, so many people took the time to stop me in the halls and throw some
friendly words of encouragement my way. I thought this was really nice but mostly, it
meant a lot. It made me feel very welcome and it is one of the reasons why I hope to get a
job at that specific school.
The other strength that I noticed is how well the kindergarten team works together. I
think that they all bring something different to the table, yet everyone works together very
well. Everyone shares their ideas with one another and when everyone works as a team, it
is more opportunity for students to grow. I feel like I have five mentors instead of just one.
They all give me words of advice and have passed on tools and lessons for me to use when
I have a classroom of my own.
Since I dont work with every grade level, I can only base my opinions on what I see
daily. The kindergartners only get P.E. once a week. This can be a problem for little ones
because they need to get their wiggles out. My mentor makes sure that we give the children
outside time to run around and play and they have recess after lunch. With almost every
lesson though, my mentor incorporates some sort of song and dance for the kids in the
classrooms. We get them up and moving multiple times throughout the day and they love
it. I know that this is a strength for the kindergartners but Im not sure if it goes on
throughout the entire school. All children need to have physical activity throughout the day
because it is not guaranteed that it is happening at home.
I didnt realize that the school was lacking in promoting healthy options until I took the
school assessment on the website. All children are offered recess after lunch and there are
healthy options for lunch. The problem is that if you give a student an option between
choosing fruit or french-fries with their lunch, they are more than likely going to choose the
unhealthy option. The principal is on board with making sure that the students have healthy

choices though. I think that this will make it easier for me to try and possibly implement
some sort of healthy lifestyle promotion throughout the school. As I walk through the
lunch room, I dont see posters or words of encouragement when it comes to choosing
healthy options.
The results from my assessment were a little shocking because I didnt think that the
school would get an F rating. Again, I cant speak for the entire school because I dont
know what the curriculum is like for the other grade levels but for kindergarten, there is not
a unit on promoting a healthy lifestyle. I would like to incorporate some sort of activity or
lesson on making the right food choices and giving young children the opportunity to learn
about being healthy. If it isnt happening at home, then some students dont even know
what it means to be more active and make healthier choices.
However, the school did score 100% on the assessment when it came to recess and lunch.
Students are given time to run after lunch and there are healthy options in the cafeteria for
students to choose from. Even though the options are there, I dont think students are
always choosing the healthier option.
Tons of clubs and activities are offered after school for children, but not for adults. Since
the activities do cost money, not all parents are able to sign their children up for these
activities. I think it would be nice to have an option for teachers to do some sort of physical
activity after school as well. Parents could also get involved. I think it would be fun to put
together some sort of fun run to get the students, parents, faculty and community involved.
It could be to raise money for the school or just for a good cause. Students get excited
about activities outside of the school. The PTO put together a back to school night at Peter
Piper and there was a huge turnout but it wasnt really the healthiest option when it comes
to food.
3. What are at least two ways to improve the policies in place at your school? Explain
detailed information for each way and what you expect from each way.
One policy that could be implemented at the school would be that since the
students are offered a healthy option for hot lunch, they should be required to make at
least one healthy choice with it. For example, if they decide that they want pizza for
lunch then they would have to get fruit or veggies as their side. This promotes a healthy
lifestyle and it would be expected from the students to make that healthy choice.
Literacy is highly promoted throughout the school. For example, not only do the
kindergartners get to go to the library each week and choose a book, but we also have a
take home book library in the classroom. The students read the books, then their parents
sign their reading log. This type of idea could be used in promoting a healthy lifestyle. If
the children go for a bike ride, walk or play outside for at least 20-30 min a day after
school, this could be logged on their active lifestyle sheet. The school could have
contests between the grade levels or classrooms to see which is the most active. I

remember when I was in elementary school and we did Jump Rope for Heart. Im not
sure if this program is still around but I do remember that it encouraged students to be
active outside of school. The same type of idea could be implemented. This type of idea
also encourages parents to be active with their children.

4. What are at least two ways that you can you use this information to engage administration,
teachers, parents, students and the community in promoting more healthful behaviors?
Include a specific description for how to use the results from the School Assessment Tool as
well as your ideas for improvement.
One of the ways that I could use this information to promote healthier behaviors
is, as I mentioned before, putting together some sort of fun run. It could be a 5k that is
set up throughout the neighborhood that the school is located in. Participants wouldnt
have to just be people associated with the school but could be everyone in the
community. Fliers could be made up and posted up around the community and at stores
that are located throughout the community. I could see if any of the local restaurants
would be willing to donate any healthy food options after the run as well.
Another way to engage administration, teacher, parents, students and the
community is possibly putting together a Copper Canyon group for a good cause. I know
that Race for Cure is coming up in October in downtown Phoenix. I could work with the
principal to see if we can put together a group from Copper Canyon to help raise money
for the cause. Copper Canyon would be represented by everyone that is involved with the
school and community around it. This could possibly encourage other schools or school
districts to do the same thing. It sends a positive message.
The lowest score according to the school assessment is the curriculum. That is
where I want to start as far as promoting a healthy lifestyle outside of the classroom. We
cant encourage students to make healthy lifestyle choices if we arent teaching them about
it. This can promote healthy lifestyle choices outside of school as well.
5. How can the information obtained be used to support your potential topic for the Signature
Assignment?
After reviewing the healthy school assessment and answering the previous
questions, I have come up with an idea for my signature assignment. I will schedule a
meeting with the principal to present my idea for promoting healthier choices in the
classroom. Young students are very visual. By hanging posters around the school lunch
room and throughout the school, this encourages them to make healthier choices. I will be
doing more research for my signature assignment to see what kind of organizations are out
there that also promote healthy lifestyles. I will be looking to seeing if it would be possible
to possibly have an assembly for all of the kids in the school. This can help me encourage
all of the students in the school and not just the kids in my class.

I can see this being something that I become passionate about after I get a job at a
school because I would be able to dedicate more time to making sure that this is something
that sticks in the schools. Since I am still on school, I have a lot on my plate right now so I
wouldnt want to try and take on too much because then I know I would slip in some other
aspect of my life. After graduation though, I can see myself being in charge of promoting
some sort of healthy lifestyle program into the school that I am at.

School Information

School Name: Copper Canyon Elementary

District: Paradise Valley
Enrollment: 724 for 2014
Urban/Rural/Suburban: Suburban
Free/Reduced Lunch: 1% of students are receiving free or reduced lunch.
Proportion ELLs: I could not find the percentage of students that are ELLs for this school. I
will be looking into and will be updating this once I am able to get that information.
Average Class Size for Grade Levels: The student/teacher ratio is 19.9 per class throughout the
entire school.
Ethnic makeup: White, Asian, Hispanic, American Indian
The School Letter Grade: I could not find an actual letter grade for the school but it did receive
5 out of 5 stars. If I had to convert that to a letter grade, it would be an A.
Title 1: No
Public/Charter/Private: Public
Other Info: Ranked 49th out of all elementary schools in the state of Arizona.

Criteria
Assessmen
t

Exemplary: Points (5)

SCORE:

A minimum of 2 strengths and 2

weaknesses were described
Assessment was completed online and
posted to your EPortfolio
Suggestions to improve school policies
were clearly stated
At least 2 suggestions to engage
stakeholders were provided

Proficient: Points (3)

A minimum of 1 strength and 1

weakness was described
Suggestions to improve school policies
were stated but lacked sufficient detail
At least 1 suggestion to engage
stakeholders was provided
Assessment was completed online and
not in your EPortfolio

A
or
St
po
Su
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N
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School
Context

SCORE:

School context contained detailed

information on
grade levels
% free/reduced lunch
enrollment,
proportion ELLs
average class size
urban/rural/suburban,
ethnic makeup
state test scores
AYP status
All of the following are listed in the file
document name submitted
Lastname.firstname.assignment#.course
#
This rubric was added to the last page
of the document submitted

School context contained some detailed

information on
grade levels
% free/reduced lunch
enrollment,
proportion ELLs
average class size
urban/rural/suburban,
ethnic makeup
state test scores
AYP status
Most of the following are listed in the
file document name submitted
Lastname.firstname.assignment#.course
#
This rubric was added but not at the
end of the document submitted

PPE 310 Healthy and Active Schools, Assessment and School

Context

Sc
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