Running head: COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL ASSESSMENT

Courtney Pacha
Comprehensive School Assessment
Arizona State University
PPE 310
January 30, 2016
Dr. Hesse

COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL ASSESSMENT

Assessment Results

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%
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: 75%

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

After School: 20%

Let's get to work. Take a look at a few simple changes your school can make to help create an Active & Healthy environment, both at
school and at home.

Based on the results of the Healthy Schools Program School Assessment Tool and
spending time reflecting on the results, I realized that Stetson Hills Elementary School is on the
right track to becoming a health conscious school. One of the strengths that have been identified
on at Stetson campus is the fact that there is a sense of community. A sense of community is
important in making changes to better the school, students, staff, and family. Every single day I
see the Principal and Assistant principal making rounds to greet the students, staff, and parent
visitors. I feel that building a relationship with everyone that is involved in the school will help
everyone to put trust and more effort into making the school a better environment. Due to Stetson
having a strong community base, there is more opportunity for them to grow into a health
conscious school and community for all to succeed in.
Another strength that has been indentified throughout the school with the primary grades
is more physical activity in the classroom. In my current placement, which is Kindergarten to
third grade special education, we use a lot of brain breaks. Brain breaks are provided to
students every 10-15 minutes or when the teachers notice the students need a little time to get

COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL ASSESSMENT

their blood flowing. I recently started to push into some of the Kindergarten classes and they are
using the website called Go Noodle, this site provides interactive activities for the students to
get up and move to. Students should have a kinesthetic brain break every 25-30 minutes. Brain
break activities do take about 1-3 minutes of class time to complete; however, the efficiency of
our students goes up when brain breaks are incorporated. Brain breaks are refreshing for both
students and teachers. (PDSG, 2016). Stetson Elementary is currently starting to incorporate
brain breaks in their classrooms, which means that this is just another step to get them to become
a health conscious school.
One weakness that was observed in my placement was the lack of discussion in the
classrooms. I havent been in every single classroom on campus, but Ive been to enough
Kindergarten to third grade. When it is snack time for the students, I will see students pull out
unhealthy snacks. In three different classrooms I saw: potato chips, pack of skittles, Hostess
products, and cereal that is high in sugar. The teachers dont seem to say anything to the students
about their snacks. When looking at the treats some of the teachers provide their students with
they arent considered healthy. I understand allowing students to have special treats, but if we
really want to change the future of our students and help them grow to be their best then we as
teachers shouldnt be providing snacks that are full of sugar. I think if the teachers educated the
students in the classroom about what they should eat then the students would learn the
information and be able to share it at home with their families. If that one correction was
implemented in the classroom then it could start making an impact on the students health and
future. According to the tool the school is considered to be rated an F, they can change this by
providing after school services to the students, staff, and community to inform them how to pack
healthy snacks and why its so important.

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The last weakness that was noted in my observation of Stetson Elementary was the lack
of wall decoration to promote a healthy lifestyle. When walking around the campus and into
random classrooms, I didnt see anything related to health. The one area I did see a lot about a
healthy lifestyle was in the Nurses office and outside her windows. She has decoration about
how much sleep, exercise, and food to eat on the daily basis. I think that what the Nurse has set
up is perfect, but its not in a location that all students will see every single day. I think Stetson
can achieve having a healthy lifestyle impact on their students and community if they promote it
better.
I believe that the first step to improving Stetson Hills is to have a more community base
approach into tackling a health wide lifestyle campus change. Earlier it was stated that Stetson
has a great community, but if they were to come together to promote different ideas to include
healthy lifestyle changes into the school, home, and community then everyone thats a part of it
would benefit from the changes. Since Stetson has a great community they just need to get
together to plan more family information nights, or at least monthly emails with a new health
challenge that families could do together at home. These challenges would promote families to
work together to achieve a goal of bettering themselves and their lifestyle. When students feel
good then they are likely to succeed better socially and academically.
Another way to improve Stetsons campus is to have more physical activity in the
classroom. I do see physical activity going on in the primary classrooms, but I dont see a lot
going on in the upper grades. I think if the teachers would hold a couple a classes a month
outside of the classroom then that would influence the students to get excited to learn, but also
get them moving. I know that when in the upper grades there is less group work and more
discussion or independent work. A lot of students need social skills along with getting up to

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move. I think it would be awesome if every month each teacher had to plan a day to get his or
her students outside for a lesson. This could be considered a brain break, but there has to be an
educational presence behind it. Teachers would be able to keep track of data so show the
improvement of their students and I would do a class competition. Once all grades completed
their outdoor lesson then they would be entered to earn free time outside on any day they choose.
It would be a fun way to pump students up and also have a positive impact in their education
career and healthy lifestyle change.
The information gathered from this assignment along with information learned in class
can help my signature assignment by guiding me to what schools should be focusing on. For my
signature assignment we are focusing on physical education in the classroom. Ive stated that
Ive seen it in the primary grades, but havent seen it in the upper grades. The information
gathered will help me come up with ways to promote a healthy lifestyle campus wide, not just in
primary.
Information
I am currently in my last semester of student teaching in a kindergarten to third grade
special education class at Stetson Hills Elementary. Stetson Hills Elementary is located in the
Deer Valley School District. In 2014 there were 1024 students enrolled. Relating the information
to School Digger, there are different races that makeup those 1024 students. There were, 794
white, 20 African Americans, 35 Asian, 129 Hispanic, 11 American Indian, 4 Pacific Islander,
and 32 students with two or more races. The school only had 18.4% students that received free or
reduced lunch according to School Digger. In 2014 the student to teacher ratio was 18.9
Stetson Hills Elementary is a suburban, not Title 1 public school located in Glendale,
Arizona. Stetson Hills Elementary received the letter grade of an A in 2014. The majority of the

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ethnic demographics is white. Overall, Stetson Hills Elementary is a great school to become part
of and a healthy lifestyle change for this school will only help them soar more.

COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL ASSESSMENT

References
Incorporating Brain Breaks. (2015, January 14). Retrieved February 8, 2016, from
www.pgsd.org/cms/lib07/PA01916597/Centricity/.../Brain Breaks.pd...
Stetson Hills Elementary School. (2016). Retrieved February 8th, 2016, from
http://www.movoto.com/schools/phoenix-az/stetson-view-elementary-school040593000126/
Stetson Hills Elementary School. (n.d.). Retrieved February 08, 2016, from
http://www.greatschools.org/arizona/glendale/2756-Stetson-Hills-Elementary-School/quality/
Stetson Hills Elementary School. (n.d.). Retrieved February 8, 2016, from
http://www.schooldigger.com/go/AZ/schools/0593000126/school.aspx?
t=tbStudents&st=tbSTR

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Criter
ia
Assess
ment
SCOR
E:

Exemplary: Points (5)

School
Conte
xt
SCOR
E:

Proficient: Points (3)

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

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.as
signment#.course#
This rubric was added
to the last page of the
document submitted

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
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.as
signment#.course#
This rubric was added
but not at the end of
the document
submitted

9
Unsatisfactory: Points
(1)
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

School context
contained little
detailed information
on
grade levels
% free/reduced lunch
enrollment,
proportion ELLs
average class size
urban/rural/suburban,
ethnic makeup
state test scores
AYP status
Few of the following
are listed in the file
document name
submitted
Lastname.firstname.as
signment#.course#
This rubric was not
added to the document
submitted

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10