Earlier this year the Texas Department of Education lowered the physical education requirements for elementary and middle schools as well as those applicable for graduation. A slew of substitutes to fulfill the PE requirement were also approved. Those included ROTC, cheerleading, or a sememster of organized sports.
The message sent by the Department did say much about their feelings and priority towards physical education. It also send a message to professionals who dedicated at least for years to formal education to become certified physical education teachers. A ground swell of advocacy took place in many districts and local school boards listened.
On March 25, 2010 the Dallas ISD Board of Trustees approved an amendment to Board Policy EIF (Local) Academic Achievement, keeping the local high school graduation requirement for Physical Education at 1.5 credits and the high school Health Education requirement at .5. So, although the state has reduced the requirement from 1.5 to 1.0 for Physical Education and from .5 to .0 for Health Education, the Dallas Independent School District will keep these requirements for our students entering the ninth grade during the 2010-11 school year and thereafter.
It is an a victory for passionate teachers and highlights the importance of physical activity and good nutrition. Let all of us continue the good fight.
Michael Cordier
Friday, April 9, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Effective Recess
Used to be that recess was a time for kids to hang out and take a break from sitting in a chair all day. Used to be that kids received their dose of physical activity in a daily PE class. But those good old days are gone. Physical Education has been watered down so much that the challenge is not to get out of it but to be part of it!
In comes 'the new Recess'. All of a sudden the role that recess time plays in schools have been expanded and structured. The start was the Wellness Act implemented by the Bush administration (toothless legislation as no money or penelties were built into it). It mandated structured, supervised recess time for 30 minutes a day in schools as part of a comprehensive school wellness plan.
Several companies such as Playworks jumped on board to develop activities to include before- and after school recess times. These programs focus on good sportmanship, character building, team participation, and fighting obesity. In essence, it provides for structured play and involves participation from all teachers - not just PE specialists. A new set of teachers are taught the fundamental benefits of physical activity.
It is a known fact that children need a time, place, and space to release pent-up energy. Active recess serves as a time to generate fresh blood to the brain to highten concentration and focus in the classroom. This leads to fewer conflicts in class and nurture natural leaders. Many programs allow well-behaved students to become junior coaches to lead or teach recess activities.
It is easy to support structured recess if it get kids moving. Let us all embrace and encourage it.
Michael Cordier
In comes 'the new Recess'. All of a sudden the role that recess time plays in schools have been expanded and structured. The start was the Wellness Act implemented by the Bush administration (toothless legislation as no money or penelties were built into it). It mandated structured, supervised recess time for 30 minutes a day in schools as part of a comprehensive school wellness plan.
Several companies such as Playworks jumped on board to develop activities to include before- and after school recess times. These programs focus on good sportmanship, character building, team participation, and fighting obesity. In essence, it provides for structured play and involves participation from all teachers - not just PE specialists. A new set of teachers are taught the fundamental benefits of physical activity.
It is a known fact that children need a time, place, and space to release pent-up energy. Active recess serves as a time to generate fresh blood to the brain to highten concentration and focus in the classroom. This leads to fewer conflicts in class and nurture natural leaders. Many programs allow well-behaved students to become junior coaches to lead or teach recess activities.
It is easy to support structured recess if it get kids moving. Let us all embrace and encourage it.
Michael Cordier
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Link between Physical Health and Test Scores
Yet another study finds a "link between physical health and academic test scores". It is not sure how many studies must be performed with:
The latest study comes from West Virginia University where author Lesley Cottrell, associate professor of pedeiatrics, found that "children's fitness is associated with their academic performance". Her team found that the fitter the student, the better the test scores. They evaluated 1,200 students and assesed fitness in fifth and again in seventh grades using a standardized test. They also tested students in four subjects (math, science, reading, and social studies) - again using standardized tests.
The hypothesis was that students maintaining or improving fitness scores over a two-year period would have the best test scores. They were right. Who would have known?
Taken a bit further, they found that students who were unhealthy in 5th grade scored worse at reading in 7th grade. Students who were fit in 5th grade but were not fit by 7th grade did only a little better academically. However, those who were not fit in 5th grade but became fit by 7th grade increased their reading score quite a bit. The best performers were obviously fit students in 5th grade who maintained their fitness through 7th grade.
It is important to note that the emphasis was on fitness not body weight and thereby accommodating different body types, hereditary discrepancies, and cultural differences. It did not matter if a student carried a few extra pounds. Now if we can only get administrators and some parents to wake up to the obvious: Fit bodies = healthy minds.
Michael Cordier
- small groups and large groups;
- long term or short term;
- young or older students,
The latest study comes from West Virginia University where author Lesley Cottrell, associate professor of pedeiatrics, found that "children's fitness is associated with their academic performance". Her team found that the fitter the student, the better the test scores. They evaluated 1,200 students and assesed fitness in fifth and again in seventh grades using a standardized test. They also tested students in four subjects (math, science, reading, and social studies) - again using standardized tests.
The hypothesis was that students maintaining or improving fitness scores over a two-year period would have the best test scores. They were right. Who would have known?
Taken a bit further, they found that students who were unhealthy in 5th grade scored worse at reading in 7th grade. Students who were fit in 5th grade but were not fit by 7th grade did only a little better academically. However, those who were not fit in 5th grade but became fit by 7th grade increased their reading score quite a bit. The best performers were obviously fit students in 5th grade who maintained their fitness through 7th grade.
It is important to note that the emphasis was on fitness not body weight and thereby accommodating different body types, hereditary discrepancies, and cultural differences. It did not matter if a student carried a few extra pounds. Now if we can only get administrators and some parents to wake up to the obvious: Fit bodies = healthy minds.
Michael Cordier
Friday, February 26, 2010
Obesity Prevention Intervention Study
What happens when students of all economic backgrounds are exposed to a school-based obesity prevention intervention that included dietary, curricula, and physical activity components? How does this intervention impacted body mass index (BMI) percentiles and academic performance among low-income elementary school children?
Well, its been done for two consecutive years involving 5,488 students of which 48% were Hispanic. Think about simplicity of the intervention: helping students understand their eating habits, promote healthier choices and increased physical activity. This in itself is a worthy effort to pursue by any school who serves free and reduced lunches. But when one adds the outcomes from this study in is inexplainable why such an intervention is not mandated on a national level.
What researcher, Danielle Hollard and her team from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine found is astonishing:
1) Obese children experienced a drop in their Body Mass Index (BMI) - probably expected
2) Regular students maintained their healthy BMI's -probably expected
3) Significant increases in math scores were experienced during both years of the study - surprising!
4) Improvement in math scores occured in both Hispanic and White students - surprising!
5) Higher readings scores were experienced as well for both years but not as high as math scores - surprising!
It is therefore possible to have a regular school program that impacts both the health and academic performance of students. Furthermore it makes the healthy body / healthy mind connection yet again. How many more of these studies are needed to make the same point?
Visit http://ajph.aphapublications.org/cgi/reprint/AJPH.2009.165746v1 to see the complete study.
Michael Cordier
Well, its been done for two consecutive years involving 5,488 students of which 48% were Hispanic. Think about simplicity of the intervention: helping students understand their eating habits, promote healthier choices and increased physical activity. This in itself is a worthy effort to pursue by any school who serves free and reduced lunches. But when one adds the outcomes from this study in is inexplainable why such an intervention is not mandated on a national level.
What researcher, Danielle Hollard and her team from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine found is astonishing:
1) Obese children experienced a drop in their Body Mass Index (BMI) - probably expected
2) Regular students maintained their healthy BMI's -probably expected
3) Significant increases in math scores were experienced during both years of the study - surprising!
4) Improvement in math scores occured in both Hispanic and White students - surprising!
5) Higher readings scores were experienced as well for both years but not as high as math scores - surprising!
It is therefore possible to have a regular school program that impacts both the health and academic performance of students. Furthermore it makes the healthy body / healthy mind connection yet again. How many more of these studies are needed to make the same point?
Visit http://ajph.aphapublications.org/cgi/reprint/AJPH.2009.165746v1 to see the complete study.
Michael Cordier
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Motives for Getting Involved in Education
Perhaps the most politicized public forum in any community is the typical school district. The appointment of the Superintendent is determined by party lines and that tone cascade to the lowest levels when it comes to career development. But the refrain continues that "it is all for the kids". Hypocrisy! Here is what Rick Hess had to say on his Blog 'Straight Up'. I believe he has a point and a good one.
It's time to banish the phrase, "It's for the kids," (that's "IFTK" for those of you keeping score at home) from the edu-discourse, along with its insipid cousins like "it's all about kids," "just for the kids," and "we're in it for the kids." Actually, it's way past time.
Two things recently reminded how much I loathe IFTK. One was a terrific little essay penned by my old mentor, Harvard University's Dick Elmore. The other, which I'll take up tomorrow, was AFT President Randi Weingarten's painful interview recently on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" show.
Elmore bracingly terms "We're in it for the kids" a "monument to self-deception." He argues, "Public schools, and the institutions that surround them, surely rank among the most self-interested institutions in American society"--with school boards "training beds" for would-be politicians, superintendents sketching grandiose visions and then fleeing for cushier positions, and unions sacrificing student interests in the name of teacher job security.
"It's for the kids" is a phrase that encourages obfuscation and posturing. It allows self-interest to hide behind self-righteousness and vapid sentiment. It also imposes real costs.
First, the rhetoric of "it's for the kids" makes it easy for serious disagreements about policy or practice to devolve into name-calling and questions of motive. If I'm "in it for the kids" and you oppose my stance on teacher licensure, desegregation, charter schooling, or merit pay, it can be easy for me to assert (and maybe even assume) that you're not in it for the kids. This fuels ad hominem attacks and makes it more difficult to find workable solutions.
And, honestly, I can't see why motive much matters. I couldn't care less whether my doctor loves me; I just care whether she's any good at her job. If someone is in it for the kids, for the adoring news coverage, or for a buck, all I really care about is whether they deliver. If they do, terrific. If they don't, their noble motives don't matter.
'It's for the Kids' Needs to Go
Two things recently reminded how much I loathe IFTK. One was a terrific little essay penned by my old mentor, Harvard University's Dick Elmore. The other, which I'll take up tomorrow, was AFT President Randi Weingarten's painful interview recently on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" show.
Elmore bracingly terms "We're in it for the kids" a "monument to self-deception." He argues, "Public schools, and the institutions that surround them, surely rank among the most self-interested institutions in American society"--with school boards "training beds" for would-be politicians, superintendents sketching grandiose visions and then fleeing for cushier positions, and unions sacrificing student interests in the name of teacher job security.
"It's for the kids" is a phrase that encourages obfuscation and posturing. It allows self-interest to hide behind self-righteousness and vapid sentiment. It also imposes real costs.
First, the rhetoric of "it's for the kids" makes it easy for serious disagreements about policy or practice to devolve into name-calling and questions of motive. If I'm "in it for the kids" and you oppose my stance on teacher licensure, desegregation, charter schooling, or merit pay, it can be easy for me to assert (and maybe even assume) that you're not in it for the kids. This fuels ad hominem attacks and makes it more difficult to find workable solutions.
And, honestly, I can't see why motive much matters. I couldn't care less whether my doctor loves me; I just care whether she's any good at her job. If someone is in it for the kids, for the adoring news coverage, or for a buck, all I really care about is whether they deliver. If they do, terrific. If they don't, their noble motives don't matter.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Is Winning Everything?
A poll from Darien Conn., wherein over 800 students in sixth to eight grades who particpated in junior football and basketball were targeted, the crucial question were asked, "Why do you play sports?"
Turned out the answer were quite simple. Not to one day play in the Super Bowl, not even to win - but for fun! While parents dream big it seems as if the children focus on small stuff, like having FUN.
The single page questionaire asked to rank 11 reasons why children participates in sports. Options such as 'to have fun' and 'to make friends' were added to more serious options such as 'to win' and 'to earn college scholarships'. From the mound of data gathered, researcher Peter Barston found a striking pattern. No matter how he categorized the responses, the most important reason youngsters gave for playing sports was the same: to have fun. That was the top response from football and basketball players, from boys and from girls, and from players in each grade from fourth to eighth.
In fact, the response from male basketball players were 95% and from females 98% listing 'fun' as the most important reason for participation.
The preliminary findings are not far from what the Michigan State researchers Martha Ewing and Vern Seefeldt concluded in 1989. Their study of 28,000 boys and girls around the country asked, Why do you play sports? The top answer then was “fun,” followed by “to do something I’m good at” and “to improve my skills.” “Winning” did not crack the top 10.
All this is a good sign and a strong message to parents: Back off on the winning at all costs theory!
Michael Cordier
Source: EdWeek - Mark Hyman 1/30/10
Turned out the answer were quite simple. Not to one day play in the Super Bowl, not even to win - but for fun! While parents dream big it seems as if the children focus on small stuff, like having FUN.
The single page questionaire asked to rank 11 reasons why children participates in sports. Options such as 'to have fun' and 'to make friends' were added to more serious options such as 'to win' and 'to earn college scholarships'. From the mound of data gathered, researcher Peter Barston found a striking pattern. No matter how he categorized the responses, the most important reason youngsters gave for playing sports was the same: to have fun. That was the top response from football and basketball players, from boys and from girls, and from players in each grade from fourth to eighth.
In fact, the response from male basketball players were 95% and from females 98% listing 'fun' as the most important reason for participation.
The preliminary findings are not far from what the Michigan State researchers Martha Ewing and Vern Seefeldt concluded in 1989. Their study of 28,000 boys and girls around the country asked, Why do you play sports? The top answer then was “fun,” followed by “to do something I’m good at” and “to improve my skills.” “Winning” did not crack the top 10.
All this is a good sign and a strong message to parents: Back off on the winning at all costs theory!
Michael Cordier
Source: EdWeek - Mark Hyman 1/30/10
Monday, January 25, 2010
Geocashing is Going Mainstream in Schools
Geocashing is fun! And it is healthy! And it incorporates technology! And its free! So how does it work?
Geocashing is a high-tech game played using coordinates and global positioning systems (GPS) to find hidden stuff (treasures). Very few treasures have any value but many of them are well planned and could take days or months to uncover - moving from one lead to another. Some treasure are found in extreme places. It is rumored that one clue will lead you to the top of Mt. Everest!
For the mere mortals coordinates can lead to a bottle cap imbedded into a tree and painted the color of the bark. Others can lead to logbooks to be signed by those who found it. Fact is that each search is an adventure with a keen sense of achievement when found. Several school districts have embraced it over the past four years with excellent results. Particpants walk, communicate, and explore new areas such as parks, suburbs, and trials.
The Inquirer reports that youth programs, such as offered the Salvation Army, has embraced geocashing to introduce kids to new expereinces, sights, and scenes. Old cities such as Philadelphia is riddled with caches and a great way to learn history. The idea is to find things you would otherwise not have seen or known about.
To get started visit http://www.geocashing.com/
Have fun! Michael Cordier
Geocashing is a high-tech game played using coordinates and global positioning systems (GPS) to find hidden stuff (treasures). Very few treasures have any value but many of them are well planned and could take days or months to uncover - moving from one lead to another. Some treasure are found in extreme places. It is rumored that one clue will lead you to the top of Mt. Everest!
For the mere mortals coordinates can lead to a bottle cap imbedded into a tree and painted the color of the bark. Others can lead to logbooks to be signed by those who found it. Fact is that each search is an adventure with a keen sense of achievement when found. Several school districts have embraced it over the past four years with excellent results. Particpants walk, communicate, and explore new areas such as parks, suburbs, and trials.
The Inquirer reports that youth programs, such as offered the Salvation Army, has embraced geocashing to introduce kids to new expereinces, sights, and scenes. Old cities such as Philadelphia is riddled with caches and a great way to learn history. The idea is to find things you would otherwise not have seen or known about.
To get started visit http://www.geocashing.com/
Have fun! Michael Cordier
Thursday, January 14, 2010
The Role of Arts in Schools
The concept of developing 'the whole child' has been around for as long as education became a structured process. With globalization a new premium was placed on competition which resulted in targeted teaching content such as math, science, and reading. Resources for everything else declined and in some cases almost disappeared. Proponents of 'the whole child' movement claims that excellence in core subjects can be reached with an all-encompassing program uses the arts as medium to teach core subjects.
A wonderful program in Tuscon, AZ proves the point. In the program, different fine-arts techniques are used for students' academic development. At the Peter Howell Elementary School, Kindergarteners use instrumental music to develop auditory acuity; first-graders use opera to develop language acquisition; second-graders use dance to develop kinesthetic awareness; third-graders play the recorder to learn composition; fourth-graders play the violin to develop abstract reasoning; fifth- and sixth-graders compose, direct and stage original works to learn how to research, create and perform. By middle school, their learning becomes an integration of all previous experiences.
In an EdWeek article, ( http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2010/01/11/fineartsacademics ), the concepts of "Opening the Minds through the Arts" (OMA) program is explained. Says OMA Director, Joan Ashcraft, "The children go to middle school with such a heightened understanding of connections in the world," explains Ashcraft. "The teachers tell us that they have to redesign their classroom lessons because the children are challenging them and they have to elevate their work because the children are thinking more creatively."
Needless to say, when fine arts are infused with traditional lessons, teamwork and creativity are often byproducts. "Fine arts can stand all by itself, but when you take it and purposefully use it as a tool to help academic achievement, it really cements the concepts," says Howell principal and pianist Mary Ann Jackson. Whether acting, singing, dancing or drawing is used to reinforce lessons, the connections students draw are incomparable to textbook-style learning. Who would have thought?
Here is the kicker: Independent research firm WestEd Inc., has determined that students in the OMA program have higher AIMS and Stanford 9 test scores, regardless of ethnicity and socioeconomic backgrounds!
My guess is that the preparation, scheduling, and staffing will be offered as excuses not to replicate this living example of a successful program to develop the whole child. Those are poor excuses to excellence in teaching our children.
Michael Cordier
A wonderful program in Tuscon, AZ proves the point. In the program, different fine-arts techniques are used for students' academic development. At the Peter Howell Elementary School, Kindergarteners use instrumental music to develop auditory acuity; first-graders use opera to develop language acquisition; second-graders use dance to develop kinesthetic awareness; third-graders play the recorder to learn composition; fourth-graders play the violin to develop abstract reasoning; fifth- and sixth-graders compose, direct and stage original works to learn how to research, create and perform. By middle school, their learning becomes an integration of all previous experiences.
In an EdWeek article, ( http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2010/01/11/fineartsacademics ), the concepts of "Opening the Minds through the Arts" (OMA) program is explained. Says OMA Director, Joan Ashcraft, "The children go to middle school with such a heightened understanding of connections in the world," explains Ashcraft. "The teachers tell us that they have to redesign their classroom lessons because the children are challenging them and they have to elevate their work because the children are thinking more creatively."
Needless to say, when fine arts are infused with traditional lessons, teamwork and creativity are often byproducts. "Fine arts can stand all by itself, but when you take it and purposefully use it as a tool to help academic achievement, it really cements the concepts," says Howell principal and pianist Mary Ann Jackson. Whether acting, singing, dancing or drawing is used to reinforce lessons, the connections students draw are incomparable to textbook-style learning. Who would have thought?
Here is the kicker: Independent research firm WestEd Inc., has determined that students in the OMA program have higher AIMS and Stanford 9 test scores, regardless of ethnicity and socioeconomic backgrounds!
My guess is that the preparation, scheduling, and staffing will be offered as excuses not to replicate this living example of a successful program to develop the whole child. Those are poor excuses to excellence in teaching our children.
Michael Cordier
Sunday, January 10, 2010
New Connection Between Fitness and Brain Development
A recent study published by three universities (Sweden & USA) under the authorship of Maria Aberg et al., and titled "Cardiovascular fitness is associated with cognition in young adulthood", is filled with lots of statistical methods and complex formulas. (PNAS December 8, 2009 vol. 106 no. 49 20911).
What makes the study interesting is that it is a longitudinal study amongst a large group of men (1,221,727) born in 1950 and tracked through 1976. The group included full-sibling pairs, twin pairs, and monozygotic twin pairs (identical). Both physical fitness and intelligence performance data were collected and linked with other national databases for information on school achievement, socio-economic status, and sibship.
Cardiovascular fitness was measured by ergometer cycling and muscle strength by strength tests. Discarding heritability and non-shared environmental influences, the results were striking:
Cardiovascular fitness, not muscle strength, at age 18 years is associated with cognitive performance. Cardiovascular fitness changes between age 15 and 18 predicted cognitive performance at 18 years. Propositional-hazards models showed that cardiovascular fitness at age 18 predicted educational achievements later in life!
Various forms of intelligence exists and the research shows cardiovascular fitness increases:
What makes the study interesting is that it is a longitudinal study amongst a large group of men (1,221,727) born in 1950 and tracked through 1976. The group included full-sibling pairs, twin pairs, and monozygotic twin pairs (identical). Both physical fitness and intelligence performance data were collected and linked with other national databases for information on school achievement, socio-economic status, and sibship.
Cardiovascular fitness was measured by ergometer cycling and muscle strength by strength tests. Discarding heritability and non-shared environmental influences, the results were striking:
Cardiovascular fitness, not muscle strength, at age 18 years is associated with cognitive performance. Cardiovascular fitness changes between age 15 and 18 predicted cognitive performance at 18 years. Propositional-hazards models showed that cardiovascular fitness at age 18 predicted educational achievements later in life!
Various forms of intelligence exists and the research shows cardiovascular fitness increases:
- Global intelligence
- Logical intelligence
- Verbal intelligence
- Visiospatial intelligence
- Verbal intelligence
- Technical intelligence
The study concluded that "these data substantiate that physical exercise could be an important instrument for public health initiatives to optimize educational achievements, cognitive performance, as well as disease prevention at the society level".
So why is physical activity not a priority nor a part as we reshape the Education model in America?Monday, January 4, 2010
It now seems likely that the 'Race To The Top' grants for $4 Billion to states across the country is in fact the blue print for the next version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act that is due to be renewed in the next year. A close adviser of Education Secretary, Arne Duncan, confirmed that the future of our education system will rest on the core foundations of the Race to the Top program:
It has been reported that Mrs. Duncan is a certified PE teacher but even the largest organization promoting physical education and sport has failed to solicit a positive response from her to promote healthy lifestyles. It might be that the Secretary wants to fix the 'big issues' first before being bothered by the mundane such as a healthy body harbors a strong mind.
But if one wants to follow the money, it might behoove our leaders to pay more attention to an article posted in the Atlanta Constitution by Bryan McCullick: http://www.ajc.com/opinion/obesity-wont-improve-without-235301.html It might behoove all of us to not only read the article but pass it on to others.
It is clear that a new generation of students exposed to quality physical education can diminish the escalating costs associated with health care - irrespective any health care reform.
Michael Cordier
- turning around low-performing schools,
- improving teacher quality and distribution,
- bolstering state data systems,
- improving the use of data and assessments,
- Expanding Charter School programs
It has been reported that Mrs. Duncan is a certified PE teacher but even the largest organization promoting physical education and sport has failed to solicit a positive response from her to promote healthy lifestyles. It might be that the Secretary wants to fix the 'big issues' first before being bothered by the mundane such as a healthy body harbors a strong mind.
But if one wants to follow the money, it might behoove our leaders to pay more attention to an article posted in the Atlanta Constitution by Bryan McCullick: http://www.ajc.com/opinion/obesity-wont-improve-without-235301.html It might behoove all of us to not only read the article but pass it on to others.
It is clear that a new generation of students exposed to quality physical education can diminish the escalating costs associated with health care - irrespective any health care reform.
Michael Cordier
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