The Problem
In 2005, the State Board of Education issued a mandate requiring 30 minutes of physical activity per school day for grades K-8. This was an unfunded mandate, but was considered critical to getting physical activity back in the schools. The Board’s new policy states that young children are to exercise during physical education class, recess, or through curriculum-based physical activities allocated for normal classtime.
Since this mandate was recommended by HWTF’s Fit Families Study Committee, HWTF assumed responsibility for compliance training for all North Carolina teachers. HWTF also invested in research and development for evidence-based curricula for use by teachers during the school day, as well as direct training in the implementation of such curricula.
HWTF Solution (program description)
The Fit Kids initiative, launched in 2006, is a program to get NC youth healthy and active. In its first phase, HWTF has set out to train all K-8 teachers on practical ways to create active and healthy classroom environments, helping them meet the State Board of Education’s mandate of 30 minutes of physical activity per school day. These training sessions and related activities on the Fit Kids Web site provide teachers an opportunity to receive continuing education units (CEUs) that support their state-required teaching accreditation.
Key Accomplishments (outcomes to date)
Over 29,000 North Carolina K-8 public school teachers have been trained in how to provide healthier, more active classrooms. For more information, please visit www.FitKidsNC.com.
Accomplishments:
- To date, 32,868 teachers have been trained by Be Active NC
- 88 LEAs have participated in at least one training
- CEU credit has been accepted by 100 LEAs
- With an average class size of 25, nearly 825,000 kids have been reached by the progra
Additionally, UNC-Greensboro evaluated teacher training sessions (pre-training, immediately after and 30-90 days post-training), and concluded that:
- 97% of teachers intend to implement the policy immediately following the training
- Before attending training, 80% of teachers reported they were offering physical activity to their students
- 30-90 days after training, 88% of teachers reported offering physical activity to students