Taylor Smith

Comprehensive School Assessment

PPE 310
14 September 2015

Assessment Result
Overall Grade: F
During School: 40%
Room for improvement. Some simple changes can have a tremendous impact on your Active &
Healthy score, from point-of-decision signage to additional physical activity after lunch.

Curriculum: 20%
Lets get to work. The Active ad Healthy Schools Program is committed to creating programs that
schools can successfully implement and maintain. Lets looks at some possibilities for your P.E.
program.

Recess/ Lunch: 75%

Great potential! How about some more nutritional education? A little more activity? Together,
these key Active and Healthy areas can deliver outstanding results.

After School: 60%

Outstanding! Adding one or two after-school activities or a take-home newsletter can make your
school an Active and Healthy center in your neighborhood.

What are at least two strengths and two weaknesses of your school?
Two strengths at my school is the food provided at lunch, as well as the amount
of recess that the kids have. In addition, my school has a decent score for after
school activities. Two weaknesses at my school are the amount of activity during the
school as well as the advocacy for health throughout the curriculum.
Describe each strength and weakness based on your observation/experience
as well as your results from the School Assessment Tool.
One strength that Paloma has is its school lunches. I have seen some of the
lunches and they look nutritious and appetizing. I even overheard the cafeteria
director say one day that they changed some of the ingredients in the meals so that
they are more appetizing but still healthy. The after school program, to my
knowledge has some tutoring and games for kids to join. There is also a kickball
team that will be starting when the weather cools down. I know at Paloma in certain
grade levels there is better coverage of health curriculum, however that is not the
case in the fifth grade where I am placed. Also, something particular to the fifth
grade is the amount of content that has to be covered, which reduces our
opportunities for obvious activity breaks.

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 way to improve the amount of daily activity is by using grouping strategies
that have students moving as part of their assignment. Perhaps they have to create
a movement or dance move to symbolize a vocabulary word or concept. Discreet
incorporation of movement is key. An easy way to improve the health curriculum can
be done in science. While discussing a variety of science concepts, students can be
posed with values-thinking and how they would approach situations related to health
and the given topic. For example fifth grade has recently learned about the skeletal
system. While we did not cover how to keep bones healthy, a simple incorporation of
health would be a short discussion on dietary ways to keep bones healthy and
potential scenarios that could put bones in harm of being damaged.
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.
To bring attention to administration, other teacher, parents, and students would
be to ask for a guest speaker to come in and discuss healthy behaviors and the
consequences of not making health conscious decisions. Another way would be to
use the Assessment Tool results to include in a letter to send to district and propose
for one or two specific ways to change the data for the better. Another possibility
would be to include the data in a newsletter to teachers and parents and ask for an
increase in healthy snacks or logging activity after school.
How can the information obtained be used to support your potential topic for
the Signature Assignment?
I can use this information to include in my signature assignment by choosing a
topic that will enhance an area that is excelling but can be improved or choose a
topic that will address one of the reasons for an area having a low score.

School Information
My school is Kyrene de la Paloma in the Kyrene Unified School District. There
are about 530 students enrolled at Paloma and about 32% of students get
free/reduced lunch (schooldiggers.com). The number of ELLs in attendance is
unknown. Paloma is a k-5 school, and while the average classroom sizes are
unknown, there is a 17:1 student to teacher ratio. It is an urban public school near
the north-western edge of Chandler. Paloma does not have a huge variety in
demographics- the student population is 59% white, 21% Hispanic, 8% African
American, 7% Asian/ Asian Pacific Islander, 3% Native American, and 2% mixed
race (greatschools.com). Most people in the community range in age from infants to
people in their 40s (schooldigger.com) and most people are married. Arizona Report
Cards gave Paloma a B. Paloma is not a Title I school.
Assess Your School. (2015). Retrieved September 15, 2015.
Kyrene De La Paloma School. (n.d.). Retrieved September 15, 2015.
Kyrene De La Paloma School. (2014). Retrieved September 15, 2015.
Kyrene de la Paloma. (2014). Retrieved September 15, 2015.

Criteria

Exemplary: Points (5)

Assessment A minimum of 2 strengths and 2

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

Profcient: Points (3)

Unsatisfactory: Points (1)

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

Assessment was not completed

online or in your EPortfolio
Strengths and weaknesses were not,
or poorly described
Suggestions to improve school
policies were not stated
No suggestions to engage
stakeholders were provided