State Grantee Success

States funded through NASBE’s obesity prevention work have made exciting progress.   Read more about these states’ work, successes, and next steps below.

Arkansas

Key policy goals in the Arkansas State Board of Education workplan included increasing opportunities for fruit and vegetable access, connecting school improvement plans with wellness policies and goals, and addressing other school health topics such as STD/teen pregnancy, access to health services, tobacco use, and mental health.  Accomplishments included implementing pilot projects to increase fruit and vegetable access and making school health a standing item on the agenda of each state board of education meeting.

MICHIGAN

Accomplishments of the Michigan State Board of Education included adopting the draft state nutrition standards in October 2010 and working with the Michigan Department of Community Health to pilot the standards in four school districts using funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).  They will be using the lessons learned from these schools to create a toolkit and offer trainings.  The SBE also incorporated health related assessment questions into the Comprehensive Needs Assessment (a school improvement tool), and adopted the Integrating Mental Health in Schools policy and disseminated the policy toolkit.  They are in the process of reviewing and updating the state board of education Policy on Quality Physical Education and continue to hold quarterly meetings of their State Board School Health Committee.

Mississippi

Key policy goals in the Mississippi State Board of Education workplan included encouraging healthy fundraisers, not allowing physical activity to be used as punishment, and not allowing food to be used as a reward. Year One of the project involved a pilot with six schools to implement one of the three policy goals, with technical assistance from the state.  Other key accomplishments included passage of a number of state policies including strengthened Board of Education nutrition standards, beverage and snack regulations, food services training and standards, and others.  They continue to publicize their successes, investigate other policy opportunities, and hold meetings of the SBE health subcommittee.

PENNSYLVANIA

The Pennsylvania State Board of Education workplan includes policy goals to develop stronger nutrition standards for competitive foods, addressing use of food, beverages or physical activity as either reward or punishment, and requiring 30 minutes of physical activity daily.  Key accomplishments in Year One included forming a SBE standing committee on Student Health & Wellness, as well as developing and advancing draft nutrition and physical activity standards through a board vote.  The new health standards are currently progressing through the state’s legislative process.

Alabama

The Alabama State Board of Education is working to create a statewide wellness policy as well as an assessment tool that local districts can use to review the strength of their own wellness policies.  Additionally, they plan to find ways to integrate existing student data collection systems in ways that will provide a clearer picture of student health and its links to student academic performance.  They also maintain a strong collaborative relationship with their state health department.

Georgia

Not only does the newly created Georgia State Board of Education’s Health and Wellness Committee meet on a regular basis to review progress towards their policy goals, they have leveraged the partnerships created through this committee to create several smaller projects, such as a partnership between the Georgia Department of Education and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources to encourage families to take advantage of the physical activity opportunities available in state parks.  They also a part of the statewide SHAPE (Student Health and Physical Education) partnership, which will be hosting a summit in the Fall of 2012. Additionally, the Health and Wellness Committee is in the process of updating their nutrition and physical activity standards and plan to present them to the larger SBE for review in 2012.

Kentucky

The Kentucky Board of Education School Health Committee includes a wide range of stakeholders from state-level agencies and advocacy groups.  They are working to enhance the state’s process of evaluating schools’ compliance with extracurricular programs, including health and physical activity.  They hope to create an accountability system that makes effective use of student data to support student health while emphasizing the importance of physical and health education.  They are also active in statewide coalitions and projects, and are in the process of reviewing their existing nutrition and physical activity standards.

North Carolina

The Healthy Responsible Students Committee is led by the North Caroline State Board of Education and includes stakeholders from other state health agencies and the nonprofit and business community.  They held a SPLASH (Strengthening Proactive Leadership Alliances for School Health) Summit in July 2011, which gave them time to evaluate progress towards their policy goals as well as plan for accomplishing the remaining goals.  Other activities of the Healthy Responsible Students Committee include the passage of a SBE resolution in support of school breakfast, and participation the Governor’s “No Kid Hungry” campaign.