Transcript Implementing the Surgeon General’s “Call To Action “ What Schools Can Do ! Alicia Moag-Stahlberg, MS, RD Executive Director Action for Healthy Kids.

Implementing the Surgeon
General’s “Call To Action “
What Schools Can Do !
Alicia Moag-Stahlberg, MS, RD
Executive Director
Action for Healthy Kids
Overview of the Problem
• The majority of American youth are sedentary and do
not eat well.
• These unhealthy practices lead to health and learning
problems.
• One major health consequence in youth is overweight
and obesity --- this is not a cosmetic issue
• There are costs to poor nutrition and physical
inactivity….on health and on our schools.
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The Wake-Up Call
• Recognition that
overweight and obesity
is a public health
concern.
• Encourages
environmental changes
that can ultimately lead
to prevention.
• Calls for the
development of privatepublic partnerships to
help implement the
vision.
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Schools Are Key
•A key setting identified in Surgeon General
Report
•Significant influencing environment
•Children develop lifelong habits in school
•Schools provide equal access
•Feeding programs in place
•Provides links to parents and community
•Nutrition and physical activity are compatible
to the education mission
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Costs of the Status Quo
• Current school practices and policies can aggravate
health and learning
– selling and promoting low-nutrient, high-calorie
foods in an attempt to generate revenue
– cutting back on physical education, recess and
other physical activity opportunities to increase
classroom time as a way to boost achievement
• In fact, these strategies are not proven to meet their
objectives
• Unknowingly are counterproductive !
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Connection to Learning
• Poor nutrition has a negative impact on learning
– Undernourished children attain lower scores on
standardized tests, are more irritable, have
difficulty concentrating and have less ability to
resist infection and may miss more school
– Well nourished students who skip breakfast
perform worse on tests and have poor
concentration
– Poor nutrition and hunger interfere with cognitive
function and are associated with lower
achievement
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Connection to Learning
• Being physically active has a positive impact
– One study linked physical activity to stronger academic
achievement, increased concentration, and improved math,
reading, and writing scores.
– Another study found that students participating in daily
physical education exhibit better attendance, a more positive
attitude toward school, and superior academic performance
– Physical activity among adolescents is consistently related to
higher levels of self-esteem and lower levels of anxiety and
stress—each of which has been associated with better
academic performance.
– Moderate physical activity has positive impact on immune
function…this can help to prevent colds and flu.
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A More Tenuous Link
• Evidence of a direct effect of weight on achievement is
less conclusive, however emerging research shows an
association.
– A 2003 JAMA study found that severely overweight children
and adolescents were 4 times more likely to than healthy
children and adolescents to report “impaired school
functioning”
– A 2004 study of 11,192 kindergartners found that overweight
children had significantly lower math and reading test scores
at the beginning of the year than did their non-overweight
peers, and that these lower scores continued into first grade.
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Overweight and Learning
•Underlying cause of overweight -- poor
nutrition and inactivity -- effect learning
•Being overweight can impact a student’s
health and leads to increased absenteeism
•Overweight children face more psychological
problems and studies show these student’s
may be victims of bullying or be bullies…this
can interfere with readiness to learn
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Economic Strains on Schools
• Reduced state funding and other hidden costs due to increased
absenteeism from health issues
• Costs associated with increased staff time and money on
programs designed to help underachieving students and those
with behavior problems
• Students with increased medication needs come with additional
costs associated with
– Staff time to dispense medications
– Many schools can not afford professional staff, using other
staff keeps them intended duties, potential risk if there was
an error
• Burden by rapid rise in staff healthcare costs, absenteeism, and
lower productivity associated with staff suffering from the
consequences of poor nutrition, inactivity and weight problems
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Action for Healthy Kids’ Vision
• Schools provide an environment that fosters the
development of lifelong habits of good nutrition and
physical activity for all children
• Our aim is to:
– Enhance the learning potential of all children,
– Slow the rate of increase in overweight and obesity,
– Increase efforts that lead to the prevention of
overweight and obesity among youth.
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Partner Steering Committee
American Academy of Family Physicians
American Academy of Pediatrics
American Association of School Administrators
American Association of Family & Consumer Sciences
American Diabetes Association
American Dietetic Association
American Federation of Teachers
American Public Health Association
American School Health Association
Association for Supervision and Curriculum
Development
Association of School Business Officials International
Association of State & Territorial Chronic Disease
Program Directors
Association of State & Territorial Health Officials
Association of State & Territorial Public Health
Nutrition Directors
Council of Chief State School Officers
Family, Career & Community Leaders of America
Food Research and Action Center
National Association for Sport and Physical Education
National Association of Elementary School Principals
National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners
National Association of School Nurses
National Association of Secondary School Principals
National Association of State Boards of Education
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National Association of Student Councils
National Coalition for Parent Involvement in
Education
National Coalition for Promoting Physical Activity
National Council of La Raza
National Dairy Council
National Education Association — Health
Information Network
National Future Farmers of America Organization
National Medical Association
National Middle School Association
National PTA
National School Boards Association
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
School Nutrition Association
Society for Nutrition Education
Society of State Directors of Health, Physical
Education and Recreation
U.S. Department of Agriculture — Food and
Nutrition Service
U.S. Department of Education — Office of Safe and
Drug-Free Schools
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services —
Office of Disease Prevention and Health
Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, and National Institute of Child Health
and Human Development
Actions Schools Are Taking
•Forming school health advisory councils
•Adding healthy vending and a la carte options
and limiting access to low nutrient foods
•Developing nutrition and wellness policies
•Integrating physical activity and nutrition into
the school day
•Incorporating nutrition and physical activity
into after school programs
•Encouraging staff to model healthy lifestyles
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Your Call To Action!
•Actions need to target environment, behavior
and policy changes
•Actions need to be carefully planned and
evaluated
•Actions are needed by diverse and cooperative
groups
•Actions will require vigorous, dedicated and
on-going commitment
•The Nation needs deliberate, persistent action
and we will need patience
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Motivate, Educate, Activate
•Set priorities
•Establish strategies and actions
•Build on existing successful programs,
policies
•Identify gaps
•Develop initiatives that fill those gaps
•Collaborate and cooperate
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www.ActionForHealthyKids.org
“Together we really
can make a
difference in the
health of our nation's
children. Frankly, the
stakes are too high to
do nothing. We must
tackle this issue, we
must not fail, we will
not fail.”
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