June 5, 2023

Turn This Year’s Learning Into Summer Fun!

For the past nine-plus months, you have strategically cultivated students’ understanding, skills, mindsets, and confidence to attain a healthy lifestyle. Now is the time to empower students to connect what they have learned to life outside of school.

In these last few weeks, help students:

• Share and celebrate what they learned with their families and friends
• Brainstorm activities that can bring friends and family together to have fun while moving 
• Identify community programs and facilities that offer recreational and/or competitive opportunities in the activities they learned this year
• Set meaningful health and goals fitness goals to work toward over the summer
• Create fitness plans using activities they learned this year and enjoy
• Transfer classroom learning to impact their health and fitness for life
• Encourage students to share social media posts that inspire others to be active too

Tie a bow on student learning by helping students connect the dots between what they learned in health and physical education to lifelong health, fitness, and wellness. Game on!!

Please do not hesitate to contact me if there is anything I can do to support you, your site, or your district. I hope you have a fantastic summer and look forward to our continued collaboration in the 2023-24 school year!

SDCOE Identifies 2023-24 Health and Physical Education Leadership Cadre

The following health and physical educators have been selected as inaugural members of the SDCOE Health and Physical Education Leadership Cadre:

• Laura Brodfuehrer (San Diego Unified School District)
• Shannon Moreno (Grossmont Union High School District)
• Kasey de la Cruz (Grossmont Union High School District)
• Robbie DePerro (San Diego Unified School District)
• Dennis Gildehaus (San Diego Unified School District)
• Leo Hsu (Sweetwater Union High School District)
• Bailee Holt-Sandsmark (San Dieguito Union High School District)
• Austin Olson (San Dieguito Union High School District)
• Trent Suzuki (Escondido Union Elementary School District)
• Tracy Yates (Health Specialist)

Cadre members will be trained to provide professional learning, instructional coaching, technical assistance and design resources to support San Diego County teachers, schools and districts. Look for opportunities to access their expertise this fall!

San Diego CAHPERD Recognizes 2024 Award Winners

On May 30, San Diego CAHPERD hosted its annual End of Year Awards and Social to recognize excellence in our profession. Join us in congratulating:

• Retirement: Bonnie Newmark (35 years of service)
• Community Partner of the Year: Chelsea Walczak Vircks (American Heart Association)
• New Professional of the Year: Sara Langdon (Del Mar Union School District)
• Outstanding Contribution to the Profession: Jasmine Stiles (San Dieguito Union High School District)
• Adapted Physical Education Teacher of the Year: Chris Ahrens (San Diego Unified School district)
• Secondary Physical Education Teacher of the Year: Ben Upham (Grossmont Union High School District)

As well, San Diego CAHPERD thanked Bailee Holt-Sandsmark for her four year tenure as San Diego CAHPERD president and welcomed Austin Olson and Terri Clark as new co-presidents.

CDE Expert Panel Releases PFT Recommendations to State Board

The expert panel convened by the California Department of Education (CDE) to make recommendations regarding the California Physical Fitness Test (PFT) released their Report to the Legislature, Department of Finance and the State Board of Education: Physical Performance Test. Below are the two report recommendations.  

Seek legislative authority and funding to:

• Develop a new program of PFT assessments that are aligned with state law and content standards
• Disallow the use of PFT assessments for academic grades
• Allow parents to exempt students from PFT
• Provide funding to support PFT administration
• Evaluate PFT programming

Develop an assessment program that is aligned with state content standards that includes:

• Developing a valid, reliable, and fair physical performance test
• Test administration by trained educators in a safe and supporting environment
• Measures improvement over time and excludes body composition
• Provides students with reports that are meaningful and actionable
• Provides date to schools/districts to inform student health and wellness policies
• Provides electronic data to parents/guardians
• Conducts studies on the new physical performance tests to assess validity, reliability and fairness

At this time, it is unclear as to what the California State Board of Education will do with this report. SDCOE Health and Physical Education Monthly Updates will continue to share information as it becomes available. Stay tuned!

San Diego Libraries Share Resources to Stop Health Misinformation

The San Diego Circuit Libraries have released a toolkit and website to stop the spread of health misinformation locally and nationally. Additionally, they are looking for schools who might like to partner to collaborate and distribute this information. If you are interested in partnering with your local library, contact Jeffrey Loo.

Hang Out with Health and Physical Educators

Meet up with your health and physical education peers at the SDCOE Health and Physical Education Hangouts on the first Wednesday of every month from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. and receive the latest updates, resources, materials, and best practices in health and physical education. Use this Zoom link to join each month. 

Health Education Framework Series Empowers Teachers to Develop Students’ Health Literacy

The SDCOE Health Education Framework Series, a combination of asynchronous and synchronous professional learning, is designed to help teachers implement skills-based instruction to build students’ health literacy. Content includes:

• Overview of the Health Education Framework for California Public Schools
• Nutrition and physical activity
• Mental, emotional, and social health
• Injury prevention, and safety
• Growth, development, and sexual health
• Alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs
• Personal and community health

SDCOE is now offering the entire series on one day, so register to join us on July 25 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Summer Professional Learning Opportunities

Summer is a great time to update your instructional tools, content and mindsets. Professional learning opportunities are being offered throughout California this summer. Click on the following links to learn more.

• California Athletics and Physical Education (CAPE) Workshop: July 9 to 15 at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
• California Middle School Physical Education Workshop (CMSPEW): July 26 to 30 at Cal State Fullerton
• California Physical Education-Health Project (Subject Matter Project) Summer Institute focused on Mental Skills for Health and Physical Activity: Dates and program specifics to be determined

Summer Professional Reading Recommendations

• Grading for Equity by Feldman
• Meaningful Physical Education by Fletcher, Ni Chroinin, Gleddie, and Beni
• UDL Now! by Novak
• Teachers These Days by Carrington and McIntosh
• The One Thing by Keller
• Street Data by Safir
• Dare to Lead by Brown
• Good for a Girl by Fleshman
• The Gift of Failure by Fahey

Please feel free to email Paige Metz professional reading titles that you would recommend to San Diego health and physical educators to feature in the June update.

Critical Resources for Health Education

• California Health Education Content Standards: Defines what students should know and be able to do by grade level in the following content areas:
• Nutrition and Physical Activity
• Mental, Emotional and Social Health
• Injury Prevention and Safety
• Growth, Development and Sexual Health
• Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs
• Personal and Community Health
• Health Education Framework for California Public Schools: A guide to implementing skill-based health education for students to achieve state health education content standards including classroom examples by grade level
• Links to Health Education Framework by Content Areas and Grade Levels
• California Health Education Website: Features critical information, tools and links to provide skills-based health education aligned to the CA Health Education Framework. Includes online professional learning, model learning activities, skills/standards posters, resources for administrators and much more!
• Health Education Instructional Materials Evaluation Toolkit: Use this tool to evaluate curricula or design your own.
• California Healthy Kids Resource Center: Check out health education curricula to vet or use with students for FREE. Features ASHWG CHYA Compliance Curricula Reviews (scroll down homepage to “Compliance Assessment Tools and Resources” tab to view).
• CDE CHYA webpage
• Mental Health Education (SB 224): Webpage that describes everything you need to know about new requirements for mental health education in California
• Grade 7-8 Mental Health Education Instructional Materials Assessment Tool
• Grade 9-1 2 Mental health Education Instructional Materials Assessment Tool
• New Suicide Prevention Hotline (9-8-8)
• CDE’s Supporting LGBTQ+ website
• SDCOE's LGBTQIA+ Youth webpage
• North County LGBTQ Resource Center and Trans Family Services LGBTQ+ Youth Standards of Care
• San Diego Live Well Tools for Schools Searchable Resource Database

Critical Resources for Physical Education

• Physical Education Model Content Standards for California Public Schools: Defines what students should know and be able to do by grade level
• Physical Education Framework for California Public Schools: Guide to implementing standards-based instruction to increase students’ physical literacy
• CDE Physical Education FAQs
• CDE Physical Fitness Testing Webpage
• CDE Physical Education FPM Instrument
• CDE Heat Guidance for Schools on Sports and Strenuous Outdoor Activities During Extreme Heat
• SDCOE Lesson Planning Template for Physical Literacy
• SDCOE Standards and Performance-Based Assessment Template
• SDCOE Guide to Health and Physical Education Distance Learning Curricula

Critical Resources for Quality Instruction

• CASEL Social Emotional Learning Framework Webpage: Defines the five competencies of social emotional learning and how to use the Framework
• CASEL 3 Signature Practices for Social Emotional Learning Playbook: Activities to welcome students to class, engage them meaningfully with content and end class with an optimistic closure
• What is UDL?, Why to Implement UDL? Videos and The Ultimate Guide to UDL by Katie Novak
• CAST Universal Design for Learning Guidelines
• Ready for Rigor Framework by Zaretta Hammond
• Six Essential Practices for Culturally and Linguistically Relevant Teaching