Find out the latest information about professional development events, special announcements and legislative issues affecting our profession.

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 January 15/2013

EXECUTIVE BOARD NEWS

• Pre-Convention Sessions
• Project Adventure
• Best Practices/Fitnessgram Training 
• Awards Banquet

• Jump/Hoop Coordinator Breakfast
• Opening Session by Cheryl Richardson, AAHPERD
• Over 50 current topic sessions with a focus on lifetime sports and activities, fitness education, technology, dance, nutrition, health, inclusion, assessment, teacher evaluation and many other topics to provide you with 21st Century resources. 
• NASPE,  EDA and NJAHPERD Teachers of the Year will share their expertise and will motivate you to return to your students with new ideas to promote lifetime wellness.  
• Driver Education Tract
• President's Evening Social

• Additional 50 current topic sessions and TOY presentations
• Grande Finale Equipment Giveaway 

NJAHPERD Executive Board members are passionate, high-energy and committed individuals, just like YOU! 

The NJAHPERD 2013 Nominating Committee is seeking nominations for Executive Board positions.  Do you have the leadership skills to enhance the professional growth and development for NJAHPERD?   Do you want to make a difference for our students and professionals? Please consider becoming involved at a higher level. Submit your name or that of a qualified colleague as a candidate for one of the following positions.

President Elect, Vice-President Elects of Health, Physical Education, Physical Activity, Dance

Most terms are a 2 year commitment and meetings are required. Please contact the NJAHPERD office if you would like more information or visit the NJAHPERD website for position descriptions. Help us make a difference! 

INTERNSHIPS AVAILABLE 

NEWS YOU CAN USE

The Directors of Health Promotion and Education (DHPE) is now accepting applications for the 2012-2013 School Employee Wellness Awards Program(SEW). SEW recognizes schools and school districts that demonstrate commitment to the health of their employees by implementing quality school employee wellness programs.

Awardees will receive special recognition for their efforts that include grants to be reinvested in their employee wellness programs (Bronze $250, Silver $500, Gold $1000).

To apply for DHPE's School Employee Wellness Awards Program or to learn more about school employee wellness programs, click here.

Applications must be submitted by February 4, 2013. No paper submissions will be accepted this year.

If you have questions, please contact Aryka Chapman at achapman@dhpe.org for program assistance, or Wendy Sahli at wsahli@dhpe.org for technical assistance.

Get in the game this new year with Fuel Up to Play 60, the free in-school wellness program from the National Dairy Council and the National Football League, in collaboration with the USDA. Here's a look at what we'll be featuring in 2013.

Funds for Fuel Up to Play 60. Deadline soon! The competitive funding initiative provides money to help schools jump-start and sustain healthy nutrition and physical activity improvements. The next and final application deadline this school year is January 15.

Student Challenges. Challenges let students show off how they, their friends and their school eat healthy and get active. And when students submit Challenges (such as video entries), they have the chance to earn cool prizes like an NFL Player visit. Upcoming Challenges include the Student Ambassador Draft Challenge (now-February 8) and the Scavenger Hunt Activity Challenge (March 4-May 3).

State Program Advisor of the Year. Once again, we'll be recognizing outstanding Program Advisors in each state. Nominations for your state's Program Advisor of the Year are due by March 1.

Fuel Up to Play 60 Contests. There are two new exciting opportunities for educators to win prizes for their schools in 2013. Program Advisors who "Refer a Friend" to join them as an in-school leader now -January 31 will be entered to win a Fuel Up to Play 60 Prize Pack. And in February and March, we're looking for the best ideas for a brand new Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Play, an easy-to-implement activity for making healthy changes in your school. Program Advisors can submit their school's idea for a new Play, and two winners will be selected and added to the official Fuel Up to Play 60 online Playbook.The deadline for submitting a Play is April 1.

Fuel Up to Play 60, now in nearly 73,000 schools across the nation, encourages students to eat healthy, be active and implement long-term, positive changes for themselves and their schools.  More information about the program can be found at FuelUpToPlay60.com.

Encouraging exercise and physical activity in the routines of children not only offers immediate benefits, but also has long-term impacts on their wellbeing as adults. To help form healthy habits, parents can seek out opportunities to help children develop a love for an active lifestyle, such as age-appropriate physical development programs. MORE

HEALTH EDUCATOR NEWS YOU CAN USE 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Division of Adolescent and School Health (DASH) is pleased to announce the release of the updated School Health Index (SHI). First released in 2000, the SHI is a self-assessment and planning tool that schools can use to improve their health and safety policies and programs.

What's new in the SHI 2012 edition?

SHI 2012 features:

• Expanded focus that adds sexual health to the SHI health topics addressed, including policies and practices that schools can follow to help prevent HIV, STDs, and teen pregnancies.
• Revised cross-cutting modules on family and community involvement, health services, and mental health services.
• Updated nutrition content aligned with USDA requirements and recommendations from the Institute of Medicine.

SHI 2012 retains many of the previous features, such as:

• Offering elementary and middle/high school versions (for completion online or in hard copy).
• Reflecting the coordinated school health approach in its organization of modules.
• Addressing the key health topics of physical activity, nutrition, tobacco-use prevention, safety (unintentional injury and violence prevention), and asthma.
• Providing access to valuable complementary SHI materials, including training manuals, FAQs, and online help.

How does using the SHI benefit schools and promote student health?

Schools across the country, and in Canada, Mexico, and Saudi Arabia, use SHI to:

• Identify strengths and weaknesses of health and safety policies and programs.
• Enable schools to develop an action plan for improving student health, which can be incorporated into the School Improvement Plan.
• Engage teachers, parents, students, and the community in promoting health-enhancing behaviors and improving health.

The SHI is based on CDC's research-based guidelines for school health programs, which identify the policies and practices most likely to be effective in reducing youth health risk behaviors. School health programs can help students establish healthy behaviors early in life, with positive results that are both immediate and long lasting.

How are the SHI materials accessed?

The SHI is available free of charge at www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/SHI. You can select either the interactive, customizable online tool or the downloadable, printable version. Training manuals and other complementary materials also are available online.

The SHI 2012 update will not change users' access to the online SHI. Login information will remain the same, and current users will be able to access the previous work completed by their team in the SHI.

For more information on the Division of Adolescent and School Health:

• Web site
• Phone: 1-800-CDC-INFO (1-800-232-4636)
• E-mail

The latest School Nutrition Dietary Assessment Study is out and available here. It provides a comparison of the nutritional quality of school meals between SY 2009−2010, SY 2004−2005, and SY 1998−1999. 

Does your school do something fun and unique to inspire students to be physically active? 

How did you get started? Why do you think it inspires your students? If so, LMIS wants to hear from you.

Christine Baccarella, NJAHPERD, Jump/Hoops Coordinator

WELCOME!!  click here... 

Links of interest:
Jump Rope and Hoops for Heart Grantwww.aahperd.org/jump  

NASPE Standards linking Physical Education to JRFH 

Register YOUR event: http://www.aahperd.org/jump/AboutJump/eventregistration.cfm 

The PULSE online newsletter

RESEARCH RESULTS

Objectives:

We assessed children's potential differences in academic achievement based on aerobic fitness over a 2-year period.  

Methods: The longitudinal study sample included 3 cohorts of students (n=1725; 50.1% male) enrolled in a West Virginia public school system. Students received baseline fitness and academic assessments as fifth graders and at a 2-year follow-up assessment. We used FitnessGram to assess fitness in aerobic capacity and WESTEST, a criterion-based assessment, for academic performance.

Results: Students who stayed in the healthy fitness zone (HFZ) had significantly higher WESTEST scores than did students who stayed in the needs improvement zone (NIZ). Students who moved into or out of the HFZ occasionally had significantly higher WESTEST scores than did students who stayed in the NIZ, but they were rarely significantly lower than those of students who stayed in the HFZ.

ADVOCACY

This short video explains the cost of physical inactivity. It is a tool for your advocacy efforts before parent groups, your boards of education and other community members. MORE  

RESOURCES

TEEN DRIVER RESOURCES

A Driver Education/Teen Driving/Traffic Safety session block is scheduled at the Annual Convention on Monday, February 25 from 8 a.m. -3:30 p.m. A summary of the five sessions is available here.

GRANTS & CONTESTS

• Improved website with informational videos, streamlined content, and additional resources to help make the application process as easy as possible.
• An application cheat sheet.
• Streamlined application process with a user-friendly interface.  

Celebrating its fourth year, the ING RFSB program will continue to provide a minimum of 50 grants of up to $2,500 to schools that desire to establish a school-based running program or expand an existing one for students in grades K-8.

This school-based running program is designed to be flexible; it can be conducted in physical education class, during recess, before school, after school, or any combination of these. The program can be as short as eight weeks or as long as you want it to be. The culminating event can also be any distance you desire.

 

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Fitnessgram Trainings for In-service Days 

NJAHPERD will provide Fitnessgram training for your staff at your site. Fee: $650
Please call/email the NJAHPERD office.

Events Listing:

• Regional Workshops Fitness Education
• Lake Conference
• Teacher of the Year Conference
• Communities and Schools in Motion: Working Together for Healthy Active Kids
• Engaging Strategies for Teaching Adolescent Health
• Adapted Health & Physical Education Conference
• NJEA Convention
• Mary Jo Young Hands on Health Conference
• 2013 Annual Convention
• Pre-Convention Workshops

Details are available on the NJAHPERD website for all professional development events.

Disclaimer: The ideas in the FYI do not necessarily reflect NJAHPERD's official position on the issues. NJAHPERD assumes no responsibility for any statement as fact or opinion presented, nor does acceptance of advertising imply endorsement of any products or services by the Association.