Running head: COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL ASSESSMENT

Comprehensive School Assessment

Jourdan Roth
Arizona State University
Dr. Lineberry
PPE 310
February 1, 2016

COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL ASSESSMENT

Based on my personal observations and the School Assessment Tool, I have noticed a
couple strengths and weaknesses that my school possesses. One of the strengths is that they have
built such a strong school community. The students and stuff communicate well with each other
and its a very comfortable environment to be in. Another strength is that the staff is very hard
working. They all collaborate very nicely and strive to do what is best for their students
academically.
On the other hand, a weakness that they possess is their lack in providing students with
appropriate time for physical activity during school. It is a junior high school, so recess time
isnt common anymore. However, there are still some things that they could do during the
school day that would increase the amount of physical activity that the students participate in

COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL ASSESSMENT

daily. Another weakness is that not all students are required to take PE. If they are able to show
documentation that they participate in an active after school activity, then they can be excused
from taking PE at school.
Keeping these weaknesses in mind, one way to improve the policies in place at my school
would be to require the teachers to incorporate physical activity into a lesson at least once a
week. As one of the components for a Comprehensive School Health Program, research has
shown that adding physical activity into a lesson plan can increase the cognitive function of the
students (Arizona State University, 2012). I obviously cannot just walk into the Principals
office and tell him that he needs to make this a requirement for his teachers, but it could be a
process. If my mentor and I implement physical activities into our lesson plans weekly, it could
then lead to other teachers seeing the positive impact that it has on our students and their
academic ability and they would want to adopt this idea as well. Down the road, the Principal
may want to make this a policy that the teachers have to follow because of how much it really
does assist them in their academic achievements.
One other way to improve the policies in place at my school based on the weaknesses
would be to require all students to take a PE class regardless of their after school activities. The
policy set in place now allows for students to be omitted from taking a PE course because they
participate in a physical activity outside of school. There is no such thing as students being too
active and I think this policy hinders the ability of the students to become more active during the
school day. These junior high students dont get recess or any other type of regulated physical
activity during the day, so this Physical Education course is very important for them and their
cognitive function. If everyone was required to take a PE class, I think that the school would see
an increase in academic performance and student behavior as well.

COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL ASSESSMENT

The task of using this information to engage administration in promoting more healthy
behaviors within the school could be pretty simple. One of our Physical Education teachers
doubles as an Assistant Principal in the mornings. According to the School Assessment Tool, my
school is pretty close to providing the students with an Active and Healthy School environment.
The only suggestion the tool has is to involve the staff and introduce some new activities. With
the help of the Assistant Principal, we could come up with these activities and incorporate them
into the Physical Education class as well as offer them at lunch time.
When it comes to using this information to engage parents, students and the community
in promoting more healthy behaviors, I think that awareness is key. If we educate our students
about the importance of healthy eating habits, exercise, sleep, etc. then they will be able to bring
this information home and educate their families. My school scored very low in the after school
category of the School Assessment Tool. This tells me that we need to work on this area the
most. One way to do this is provide the students, parents and community with the opportunity to
be active. We could do this by setting up a school-wide walk or relay race. These
school/community events get everyone involved while also being active.
My potential topic for the Signature Assignment is student sleep and its association with
academic performance. The information from the Student Assessment Tool and my personal
observations of the school can be used to support this topic because sleep is the beginning of the
process. If students arent getting enough sleep, then they are unable to be as physically active
and their academic performance is impacted as well. It is important that students are getting
enough sleep every night so that they are more able and willing to be physically active during the
school day and therefore increase their cognitive function.

COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL ASSESSMENT

I am at Stapley Junior High School for my student teaching. It is located in the Mesa
Unified School District and currently has open enrollment. It used to be open to 7th-9th graders,
but only has 7th and 8th graders now. Out of the 949 students enrolled, 291 of them participate in
free/reduced-priced meals and 10 of them are ELLs. It is located in a suburban area with
characteristics of an urban area (Miller, Miller, Eaton & Williams, 2016). It is a public school
that has a B School Letter Grade, but is in the process of improving this grade. It is not a Title 1
school. The average daily student attendance rate is 95% (Miller, Miller, Eaton & Williams,
2016). In 2014, 74% of the students were white, 1% was African American, 1% was Asian, 15%
were Hispanic, 7% were American Indian and 1% was two or more races (Stapley Junior High
School, 2015). I was unable to find the average class sizes for Stapley Junior High School.
http://jourdanroth.weebly.com/healthy-leadership.html

COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL ASSESSMENT

References
Arizona State University (2012). Comprehensive School Health Programs: A
theoretical Framework. Retrieved from http://asuteacherscollege.wistia.com/medias/crt95tfyzi
Miller, J., Miller, C., Eaton, A., & Williams, S. (2016). 2015-2016 A+ SCHOOL
OF EXCELLENCE APPLICATION (1st ed., pp. 1-5). Mesa. Retrieved
From http://file:///C:/Users/Jourdon/Downloads/Stapley%20JH%20A+%20Application%
202016.pdf
Stapley Junior High School. (2015). Retrieved February 1, 2016,
from http://www.schooldigger.com/go/AZ/schools/0497000580/school.aspx

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