Boy, am I an
infrequent blogger! I do want to assure you, though, that I am alive
and working on our focus areas. In particular, there is a window of
opportunity opening in the "life-ready" area in Arizona.
The Arizona
Department of Health Services has recently determined, after a comprehensive
statewide review process, that obesity is the number one health issue facing
Arizona. Other preventable chronic conditions such as heart disease and diabetes
were also identified as major AZ health issues. Furthermore, we already know
that four of the five root causes of the vast majority of these conditions are
unhealthy nutrition, lack of physical activity, smoking, and excess drinking.
(Genetics plays a role as well, but healthy behavior can often trump
genetics.)
At the same time,
a number of organizations and individuals are frustrated by the increasing
narrowing of our public K-12 education, and the dire consequences of
downplaying social studies and health education, and eliminating the arts,
recess and PE. The new governor, Doug Ducey, has voiced his concerns
about child obesity and weaknesses in civics education. Related to
this, the election of a new superintendent of public instruction has re-opened
the debate on the “Common Core” standards.
Since Gov.-elect
Ducey insists that any new standards need to be raised even higher, how about
strengthening standards in physical and health education, as well as in civics,
financial literacy, and other areas that help prepare students for success in
life? And high standards alone do not ensure improved
education. We need to measure performance to ensure accountability,
so that schools achieve outcomes described in the standards. For example,
annual Fitnessgram PE tests and YRBS+ surveys could help us find out which
schools have the greatest child obesity rates and other preventable health problems, and
how those schools are doing at improving children's health. After all,
our historical standards, even before the Common Core, were impressive, but we
fell far short of meeting those standards for many students until we introduced
statewide standardized testing. AIMS tests increased school
accountability and thereby helped us to improve reading, writing, math and
science education, though we still have a long way to go. Yet we are not
testing student outcomes in many other important areas.
Another example:
many of our high school graduates would probably not be able to pass the
US Naturalization Civics Test. As a result, Gov.-elect Ducey wants
to require students to pass this Test. I’m reviewing the answers
myself, so that I’m ready for a possible pop test http://www.uscis.gov/citizenship/learners/study-test/study-materials-civics-test
It is actually quite emotional to read through the Test questions and
sample answers, thinking about what an awesome country we have.
One of my
favorite questions is: “What are two ways that Americans can
participate in their democracy?” Possible responses listed include: help
with a campaign, join a civic or community group, give an elected official your
opinion on an issue, contact legislators, and write to a newspaper. (I
assume posting on Facebook or Twitter to any news site might be an
acceptable alternative to a newspaper nowadays.) In other
words, the Naturalization Test indirectly acknowledges that citizenship is not ultimately
about civics knowledge alone, but about taking action using that knowledge.
Unfortunately, as
discovered by the Center for the Future of Arizona http://www.arizonafuture.org/ and noted by the National
Conference on Citizenship http://ncoc.net/Key-Findings-How-Arizona-Compares-to-the-Nation-AZCHI,
only about 10% of Arizonans contact public officials, attend meetings about local
issues, or work with neighbors to fix something. Arizona generally
ranks below average in these categories compared to other states.
Yet we could
increase civic engagement dramatically by having students participate in their
communities as part of their K-12 education. This could be measured
by civics, government, and social studies teachers, who could require evidence
of civic engagement as part of their courses. It could be encouraged
as well by teachers of reading/writing and English, who could assess the
quality (and civility!) of civic-related communications submitted by students as part of
their courses. And how about science teachers asking for students to
discuss the pros and cons, from a scientific point of view, of government
policies on food safety, smoking, and even climate change and GMO
labeling?
Hopefully, these kinds
of no-cost and low-cost, high impact opportunities will be considered, as
existing and incoming officials and advisers try to improve health, civics,
standards, education and life in Arizona. Let's empower our students to
be college-ready and career-ready, but also life-ready, so that they are truly
prepared for success in life!
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