The Research
According to the Center for Disease Control, physical activity increases and improves the motor skill levels related to the improvement of cognitive skills, emotional wellness, on-task behavior and the mental health of students. In addition, it has been concluded in the Journal of School Health, 2015 November; 85(11): 740-758, that “...schools can improve the health and learning [experience] of students by supporting opportunities to learn about and practice healthy behaviors, providing school health services, creating safe and positive school environments, and engaging families and communities.”
The Problem
As schools look to reconnect and re-engage students, how will COVID and the lack of physical health activities impact the mental health and learning outcomes of Bronx elementary school students? During pre-Covid school years we would have had access to students’ physical activity/academic engagement assessments upon which we could project quantifiable outcomes to our program. Because we no longer having current data that tracks each student’s performance across the spectrum, our first imperative is to establish a customized, post-Covid tracking database - an essential benchmark upon which we can subsequently measure each student’s growth-taking into account each student’s specific capacity to participate after a severely traumatic year.
Our Solution
In direct response to the physical health needs of Bronx Elementary School students, we’ve used an equity lens to:
- Design a physical activity program for elementary school students that addresses the lack of physical activity engagement while also
- Establishing a tracking database that measures the correlation between a student’s academic performance, experience and engagement to physical activity.
We plan to target Bronx communities with the highest health disparities in the area of
- childhood obesity
- low physical activity engagement
- have been severely impacted by COVID-19
Our goal is to train Bronx teachers from 10 targeted schools in the Bronx. Ultimately, this training will impact the physical health of 4,500 Bronx youth in one year.
Our program will:
- Help Bronx teachers learn how to integrate and use physical activity “brain breaks” within their current curriculum to engage and enhance their students’ capacity to learn and excel
- Increase physical activity engagement for students
- Help schools leverage current resources (doing more with less) to create sustainable active learning environments.
While we will work with Bronx school teachers to insure an almost 100% rate of participation in the lesson planning of “brain breaks”, we cannot expect all to follow up with the tracking side of our program.
For our first year we want to make certain that our goals are reasonable based upon each teacher’s capacity to follow up. The following year’s increased participation will be an outgrowth of our sanguine expectations.
Our Impact
During the program year, we will collect data from each school to ensure targeted outcomes which includes:
1. increased physical activity time to help improve student’s mental health and wellness
2. increase in student’s capacity to take in lesson plans without fading out (iv) how students are re-engaging and reconnecting to academics post pandemic.
3. decrease in student’s off-task behaviors
Our program is vital because the outcomes in the classroom directly impact students’ health, which then impacts their household and the larger Bronx community. Our hands-on approach and ability to customize each teacher’s learning experience through professional development and resources will help create the framework for a sustainable program that is long-lasting. Our post-Covid baseline tracking platform and all the subsequent data that we collect on top of this during the year further ensures a solid pathway to an enduring program.
Our Partnership
Our target is to implement the pilot program in 10 schools within the Bronx school districts of 7-12. By working with 10 schools, it will allow us to generate a big enough sample size to compare and collect data.
With a partnership, during the school year, we will be able to provide each school with
(i) 9 hours of professional development during the school year
(ii) 10 hours of customized on-site or virtual technical assistance and support including modeling and implementation of on-line teaching
(iii) an end of school year case study report that addresses the impact of the program on both the teachers and students.
ENHANCING LEARNING THROUGH PLAY
The Problem
As schools look to reconnect and re-engage students, how will COVID and the lack of physical health activities impact the mental health and learning outcomes of Bronx elementary school students?
During pre-Covid school years we would have had access to students’ physical activity/academic engagement assessments upon which we could project quantifiable outcomes to our program. Because we no longer having current data that tracks each student’s performance across the spectrum, our first imperative is to establish a customized, post-Covid tracking database - an essential benchmark upon which we can subsequently measure each student’s growth-taking into account each student’s specific capacity to participate after a severely traumatic year.
The Research
According to the Center for Disease Control, physical activity increases and improves the motor skill levels related to the improvement of cognitive skills, emotional wellness, on-task behavior and the mental health of students. In addition, it has been concluded in the Journal of School Health, 2015 November; 85(11): 740-758, that “...schools can improve the health and learning [experience] of students by supporting opportunities to learn about and practice healthy behaviors, providing school health services, creating safe and positive school environments, and engaging families and communities.”
Our Solution
In direct response to the physical health needs of Bronx Elementary School students, we’ve used an equity lens to:
- Design a physical activity program for elementary school students that addresses the lack of physical activity engagement while also
- Establishing a tracking database that measures the correlation between a student’s academic performance, experience and engagement to physical activity.
We plan to target Bronx communities with the highest health disparities in the area of
- childhood obesity
- low physical activity engagement
- have been severely impacted by COVID-19
Our goal is to train Bronx teachers from 10 targeted schools in the Bronx. Ultimately, this training will impact the physical health of 4,500 Bronx youth in one year.
Our program will:
- Help Bronx teachers learn how to integrate and use physical activity “brain breaks” within their current curriculum to engage and enhance their students’ capacity to learn and excel
- Increase physical activity engagement for students
- Help schools leverage current resources (doing more with less) to create sustainable active learning environments.
While we will work with Bronx school teachers to insure an almost 100% rate of participation in the lesson planning of “brain breaks”, we cannot expect all to follow up with the tracking side of our program.
For our first year we want to make certain that our goals are reasonable based upon each teacher’s capacity to follow up. The following year’s increased participation will be an outgrowth of our sanguine expectations.
Our Impact
During the program year, we will collect data from each school to ensure targeted outcomes which includes:
increased physical activity time to help improve student’s mental health and wellness
decrease in student’s off-task behaviors
increase in student’s capacity to take in lesson plans without fading out (iv) how students are re-engaging and reconnecting to academics post pandemic.
Our program is vital because the outcomes in the classroom directly impact students’ health, which then impacts their household and the larger Bronx community. Our hands-on approach and ability to customize each teacher’s learning experience through professional development and resources will help create the framework for a sustainable program that is long-lasting. Our post-Covid baseline tracking platform and all the subsequent data that we collect on top of this during the year further ensures a solid pathway to an enduring program.
Our Partnership
Our target is to implement the pilot program in 10 schools within the Bronx school districts of 7-12. By working with 10 schools, it will allow us to generate a big enough sample size to compare and collect data.
With a partnership, during the school year, we will be able to provide each school with
9 hours of professional development during the school year
10 hours of customized on-site or virtual technical assistance and support including modeling and implementation of on-line teaching
an end of school year case study report that addresses the impact of the program on both the teachers and students.