Altman-Suchocki 1

Matt Altman-Suchocki
School Assessment Assignment
Arizona State University
PPE 301-79594
Jessica Skipper
September 9th, 2015

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School Health Assessment

PART 1
After using the assessment tool to grade my placement school, Madison No. 1
Middle School, I have found a few strengths and a few weaknesses in regards to the
development and maintenance of the health of the schools environment. First off,
Madison No. 1 Middle Schools strengths are in the realms of its curriculum and its
after-school programs. The curriculum makes attempts to promote healthy lifestyle
choices. In fact, this very morning the schools video announcements contained
information on healthy foods and how to make healthy choices for lunch. There is
some strength in the nature of their after-school programs as well. Madison No. 1
Middle School has had a few get-togethers this year and has consistently provided
healthy foods to not only the teachers/staff, but also for students and their
parents/guardians. However, these two strengths both topped out at 60%,
meaning both areas still have much room for improvement.
In the same vein, Madison No. 1 Middle School has two glaring weaknesses,
according to the online assessment tool: during school and recess/lunch. There is
essentially zero time for recess outside of after lunch, wherein a majority of children
do not even really exercise anyway. On top of this, there could be better options for
lunch food, and there is room for a model program for students who bring their own
lunches. If Madison wants to improve the health of the overall school, two
immediate changes could be made. For one, a 15-minute recess could be
implemented at some point during the day. Personally, I believe the best time for
this could be at the beginning of the guided study period. To be frank, most classes

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spend guided study working on homework or assignments for other classes.
Although this time is valuable if used wisely, most students do not take advantage
of the extra work time during guided study and still leave the vast majority of their
homework to be done after school. A short recess time could help get students more
physically active, which I believe would help with their success in other classes.
Another immediate change that could be made to improve the health of Madison
No. 1 Middle Schools school-wide environment would be to provide a small healthy
snack in either the mornings or late afternoons. For a more affluent school, there
are still a significant number of students on the free-and-reduced lunch program. An
additional healthy snack would go a long way for students with a low socioeconomic background. Concordantly, the benefits would trickle-down to all students
throughout the school by strengthening the school-wide perception of the
importance of healthy foods. The more frequently students, staff, and parents see
the school push for healthy eating habits, the greater the effect will be in fostering
healthy lifestyle choices in the future. The information divulged by the online
assessment will be the foundation upon which I build my signature assignment,
since the greatest health needs of Madison No. 1 Middle School have been properly
identified.

PART 2
As previously mentioned, my placement school is Madison No. 1 Middle
School, located in the Madison School District. As of 2014, there were approximately
871 students enrolled in my middle school. The percentage of students on the freeand-reduced lunch program is 32.8%. The percentage of students who are classified

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as English Language Learners could not be attained from my research, although
from my experience the percentage is small, but not zero. Madison No. 1 covers the
grades of 5-8; the average class size throughout these grades is 18.3 students per
full-time teacher (however, this number seems slightly skewed by the low class
sizes of the Special Ed/Reach program; most mainstream classes have 24-35
students). The setting of Madison No. 1s community is urban/suburban. The ethnic
makeup of Madison No. 1 Middle School is as follows: 43.2% White; 9.1% AfricanAmerican; 1.7% Asian; 35.2% Hispanic; 8.3% Native American. The school letter
grade is a B, although according to the Madison District Website, that grade is being
disputed due to missing points in the assessment. Madison No. 1 Middle School is a
public school, but is not a Title I school.

REFERENCES
Madison Scene. Fall 2013. Retrieved: September 10, 2015 from:
http://www.madisonaz.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Madison-Scene-Fall-2013.pdf

Schooldigger.com. Retrieved: September 10, 2015 from:

http://www.schooldigger.com/go/AZ/schools/0450000355/school.aspx