Fired Up and Ready to Go

I looked down at the black fitbit on my wrist yesterday around noon, reluctantly tapped the face twice, and waited impatiently for it to respond. Soon the monitor revealed one full bar and a second slowly blinking back at me. Sitting all day is tough. I must have had an unsatisfied look on my face as I did the math…less than 1500 steps. I was frustratingly short of my 10,000 step daily goal. Last week while escorting my students up Mt. Si, a 4-mile hike outside Seattle with 4000 feet of elevation gain I had hit 10,000 steps before 8am. Sitting all day is tough. I had good reason to be sitting but I function much better when I’m moving.

I spent the past three days representing SHAPE Washington in St. Louis at the Leadership Development Conference (LDC). Aside from the inevitable seat time there were some obvious highlights. I met some impressive educators in our field from all over the country and used the many meaningful conversations to refuel my professional energy (it had taken a big hit over the last couple of months of school this year). I listened intently as some of the most respected leaders in physical education shared their collective vision for SHAPE America our newly structured national organization. I had the opportunity to sit in on a session by Dr. John Ratey, from Harvard University, as he discussed the abundance of research connecting moderate to vigorous physical activity to an increase in brain function. What he calls “miracle grow for the brain” could go a long way to making physical education a priority in our schools. It was an inspirational message.

However, what continues to rattle around in my brain today, as I fly to meet my family in California for what I think is a well deserved visit to Disneyland, is what our current SHAPE America president, Dolly Lambdin, challenged us within the first hour of the conference. After a painfully slow period of change within our professional organization (from AAHPERD to SHAPE America) that’s been at times both confusing and promising, our leaders have emerged from the experience with a visionary perspective. With CEO Paul Roetert, past-president Gale Wiedow, and president-elect Steve Jefferies providing their support, Dolly challenged us to consider an audacious national goal: All students in the United States will be physically active and healthy by 2025.

Steve Jefferies followed this announcement by skillfully leading the group of nearly 100 state leaders in an activity designed to identify those barriers that will challenge us (physical educators, PETE professors, administrators, community members and other stakeholders) in our pursuit of this goal. Some were obvious. Where will the funding come from? What will the measurement be? How will we come to agree on the measurement? How do we close the socioeconomic gap? Others were not as obvious. How will SHAPE America reach out to the approximately 250,000 physical educators in the US that are not members of the very organization proposing this goal? Do we have the right goal? I have to admit that my initial excitement leveled out as we were having this discussion in small table groups.

After that short discussion, we focused our positive energy around the positive outcomes if we met this mark: reduced stress, reduced health issues related to obesity, lower health care costs, and an increase in brain efficiency to name a few. Now, if you are in the business of educating young people in becoming healthy, happy, and future ready, this discussion will make you downright joyful. For me, it made the long flight from Seattle the day after a long and often frustrating school year worthwhile, and forced me to think about my role in helping our students succeed.

Sandra Sims from Alabama, who shared her experience as a former state AAHPERD president, suggested “simple is better.” She went on to say that although simple is better it is often more difficult. To that end, I believe that there are two pillars we need to focus on targeted at both the national and local levels. Achieving these two pillars will lead to success in reaching our goal, but one without the other will lead to failure.

First, we must have accomplished teachers in every classroom. I challenge SHAPE America to take a critical look at the work of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards over the past thirty years and their five core propositions. I strongly believe that all of our students need to have accomplished teachers in their classrooms in order for us to reach our professional goal. Second, we must support these accomplished teachers, especially those in low socio-economic areas to our fullest ability. That means we need to develop rock solid partnerships and coalitions with stakeholders across the country both in the public and private sectors. We need to do this work so that the accomplished teachers in the field can focus on meeting the needs of the young people in their classrooms.

How do we begin our journey toward this goal? First, I believe that we must target an elementary school, fully immersed in a Comprehensive School Physical Activity Program (CSPAP) that has been implemented successfully by accomplished physical educators. We need a proven program that would benefit from the unwavering support of SHAPE America. A proven program that when combined with the needed support will produce the student outcomes in our stated goal. Second, I believe we must partner with a low socio-economic school, near our SHAPE America headquarters, that isn’t immersed in a CSPAP and has struggles in meeting quality physical education requirements. Imagine what it would mean to communities everywhere if we could point to data from this type of school environment, that is so prevalent across the country, and proves that the two pillars lead to the student outcomes we so passionately seek. Powerful stuff.

Our leadership has envisioned a bold plan. We need to follow that up with a bold action. We must have accomplished teachers in every classroom. Teachers who have been “Rolling the ball out” are not acceptable. Young professionals with inadequate experience and low motivation won’t work. We must raise the bar for those students graduating from our PETE programs and we must either provide the professional development necessary for current teachers to reach accomplished status or eliminate poor teachers unwilling to change. No excuses. If our goal targets “All” it means all and falling short of that because of poor teaching is on us. We must, fully and without hesitation support our educators in the field. Being an accomplished teacher by itself is not a complete recipe for success. Our national organization must form strong connections with companies across the country that have both a stake in our cause and the funding to support its realization. The stars are lined up. We have a chance to do something great for our young people that will have an enduring impact on their lives. Let’s take advantage of the opportunity.