Running head: Comprehensive School Assessment 1

Clarissa L. Jaucian
Comprehensive School Assessment
Arizona State University
PPE 310
February 7, 2016
Dr. Lineberry

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During my time at Stevenson Elementary, I have come to realize that the schools
strength is in its food selection. The students are offered breakfast every morning, to ensure that

students do not miss this important meal before starting their school day. In general, the
selection is healthy. Students have a choice of milk, fruit juices, and some kind of fruit. Some
days there is a hot burrito or sandwich, other days there are cinnamon rolls or carrot bread.
During lunchtime students have a salad bar option. Lastly, there are not any vending machines
available. Which means that any junk food must come from the students home. Students are also
forbidden from bringing soda onto campus, water is the only outside beverage they can bring
with them to school. Stevenson ensures that every student has the opportunity to have a wellbalanced meal for breakfast and lunch.

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Another of Stevensons strengths is that the teachers are becoming more involved with
getting their students active throughout the day. All of the fourth grade classes participate in a
Walking Club in the mornings before school. They collectively work towards a specified
mileage goal and keep track of every students progress. This walking club helps to keep students
active and stress the importance of physical fitness. The teacher community is working to make
this walking club available to all grade levels and even to the families of Stevenson students.
Hopefully, the club will be able to expand enough to start participating in events throughout the
Phoenix area.
The biggest weakness that I have determined is the lack of emphasis on physical activity
in the students curriculum or daily schedule. They are given two PE sessions per week, at 30minutes a session. The daily allotment for recess at the 6th grade level is 15 minutes a day. But
this doesnt require students to be active during that small window. The students are walking
between the classroom and specials every morning, but they have large amounts of time where
they are sitting without a chance for activity. This results in a lack of focus and more behavior
issues in the core classes.
Another weakness that I have noticed while at Stevenson is the lack of information
available for students to take home. There may be more opportunities for physical activity and
nutritious meals at school, but not enough follow through for home. Parents and guardians
should be involved in keeping their students healthy, as well as being a good example of what
healthy living entails. By encouraging families to become more active throughout the day, they
are working to increase the students academic achievement. At the elementary level, students are
still growing and need a healthy, well-rounded diet.

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Through the School Assessment Tool, Stevenson received a grade of F. Not only due to
the lack of time associated with student physical activity, but also a lack of healthy eating
education. Students are not informed, or educated, of the connection between physical fitness,
nutritious meals, and academic success. Although, the school is working to make changes it still
has some work to do before they can be considered an Active & Healthy School.
One improvement I would like to see at Stevenson, is an increase of physical activity in
the school day for students. Using pedometers to track student steps in a regular school day will
give teachers and school personnel an idea of how active the kids are. Incorporating brain breaks
and activity breaks can increase the number of steps that students take in their school day. As
well as being a beneficial pause in instruction to help keep students focused.
To go along with the increase of student activity levels, there needs to be more time spent
in PE and Health classes. The two times a week, at 30 minutes a piece, is not enough to affect
healthy living behaviors in the students. Adding at least one more PE or Health session a week
would increase the amount of physical activity that the students are involved in. Making the PE
sessions more meaningful with an emphasis on positive lifestyles would extend to educating
students about play during recess. It would be beneficial to make recess more meaningful
through designated activities that help get students up and moving. This would ensure that all
time allotted for physical activity is being utilized optimally.
The healthy, physically active student is more likely to be academically motivated, alert,
and successful. (NASPE, 2001). The goal of education is to help students to succeed, not only
academically but in their future lives as well. For this goal to be realized the child must be
looked at, and addressed, as a whole person; not just a brain to be filled with information. This is
why health and physical education are so important. It is clear that physical education has

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become secondary to standardized testing results. Stevenson needs to look at ways it can
improve the grade that was received via the School Assessment Tool. By improving the grade
from an F, Stevenson can help its students to become more active and academically successful.
The information gathered from the School Assessment Tool shows that there are multiple
areas to be improved upon. The breakdown of the information helps to focus on those areas that
need specific attention. For instance, there are equally low scores in the During School,
Curriculum, and After School portion of the day. By increasing the time for PE and Health
education, Stevenson would be able to help the During School and Curriculum focus.
Increasing student activity time would be improving the During School focus.
Through the assessment of my school, I realized that my 6th graders would greatly benefit
from increased physical activity in their school day. As a student teacher focusing on
mathematics, I often have students who struggle with the content and ability to focus on learning
the important facts necessary to be successful in math. If I can find a way to not only increase the
physical activity of my students, but to help them become more academically successful in the
process, I see this as a win-win situation. That is why I chose to focus on the connection between
physical activity and academic success in 6th-8th grade students for my Signature Assignment.
The School Assessment Tool has given me a good idea of much of the day that my students are
active. I will use this newly gained knowledge to support my research and implementation of a
program of increased physical activity in the classroom.
School Information
My student teaching requirement is being fulfilled at Stevenson Elementary School in
Mesa, Arizona. Stevenson is part of the Mesa Public Schools district and had 755 students
enrolled during 2014 (Stevenson, 2016). It is a public Title I school, with 83.4% of the student

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population receiving free or reduced lunch (Stevenson, 2016). I wasnt able to find the exact
number of students who have been recognized as requiring ESL programs. But according to
SchoolDigger.com, Stevenson has a student to teacher ratio of 17.4:1. Although, personally my
6th grade classes range from 24 to 30 students per homeroom. It currently services students from
Pre-Kindergarten all the way to 6th grade.
The area
surrounding Stevenson
is older, the school is
in a neighborhood of
manufactured homes.
There are condos and
apartments within
walking distance, with
older homes a little
further away. The population of residents in the area surrounding Stevenson is pretty young, with
more than half under the age of 30. According to k12.niche.com, Stevenson has an overall grade
of B.

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E-Portfolio Link
http://clarissajaucianppe.weebly.com/healthy-leadership.html

References:
Gopher. (2016). Retrieved February 07, 2016, from
http://www.gophersport.com/resources/active-healthy-schools/.
Stevenson Elementary School. (2016). Retrieved February 07, 2016, from
http://www.schooldigger.com/go/AZ/schools/0497000415/school.aspx.
National Association for Sport and Physical Education. (2001). Physical education is critical to a
complete education [Position paper]. Reston, VA: Author.
Stevenson Elementary School in AZ - Niche. (n.d.). Retrieved February 08, 2016, from
https://k12.niche.com/stevenson-elementary-school-mesa-az/.

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