Description
Health equity means that everyone has a fair and just opportunity to be as healthy as possible (1).
Yet, not all students have these opportunities. When looking at data nationally, certain students consistently have poorer outcomes, and these differences are seen by factors such as race, income level, gender, and ability.
Ensuring that all students have access to quality, accessible school-based physical education and physical activity opportunities is one strategic approach to advance equitable academic and health outcomes. As a first step, it is critical to identify disparities in the implementation of Comprehensive School Physical Activity Program framework components in states, school districts, and schools across the country. In Georgia, qualitative and quantitative research conducted by Georgia Health Policy Center and state agency partners revealed significant disparities in physical education participation and aerobic capacity among middle school girls, as well as barriers and preferences for physical activity. In Michigan, a classroom physical activity intervention implemented in elementary schools found lower rates of implementation in low-income schools. Springboard to Active Schools, Georgia Health Policy Center, and the University of Michigan will lead participants in a deeper examination of these two case studies and explore ways to integrate health equity principals into current and future physical education and physical activity programming.
(1) Human Impact Partners. Healthy Equity Guide.
Objectives
– Define health equity and identify potential root causes for why inequities exist and persist.
– Share findings from two case studies: fitness disparities among middle-school girls and physical activity disparities in low-income elementary schools.
– Explore ways to integrate health equity principles and lessons learned from case studies to current and future PE/PA programming.
Presenters
Rebecca Hasson, Ph.D.
Rebecca Hasson, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Schools of Kinesiology and Public Health and Director of the Childhood Disparities Research Laboratory at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Dr. Hasson has developed a nationally recognized cross-disciplinary research program that takes an environmental, behavioral, and biological perspective to understand racial/ethnic disparities in the development of obesity and obesity-related health complications in children and adolescents. Dr. Hasson received her Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctoral degrees from the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. After graduating, she completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of Southern California’s Childhood Obesity Research Center and a second postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California at San Francisco’s Center on Social Disparities in Health as a W.H. Kellogg Health Scholar.
Debra Kibbe
Debra Kibbe is a Senior Research Associate in the Georgia Health Policy Center at Georgia State University where she has worked since October 2011 on obesity and health-related policy and programs throughout the United States. From 1998 to 2011, Debra served as Director of the Physical Activity and Nutrition (PAN) Program for the International Life Sciences Institute Research Foundation (ILSI RF) headquartered in Washington, D.C. where she coordinated, evaluated and published results from school, community and health care intervention projects aimed at the prevention and management of pediatric overweight. Prior to joining the PAN program, Debra was the assistant volleyball competition manager for the 1996 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia. Active at the national level, Debra is faculty for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetic’s certificate program on child and adolescent overweight and was a member of the education subcommittee of the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans Implementation Plan initiative. Debra co-chairs the data and evaluation sub-group of the Georgia SHAPE childhood obesity prevention initiative. In June 2019, Debbie was one of five recipients of the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition’s Lifetime Achievement award. Debra earned her B.S. in Psychology from Hiram College (Ohio), and her M.S. in Personnel & Employment Relations from Georgia State University.
Emily Anne Vall
Emily Anne Vall’s career has focused on children’s health. She completed her undergraduate teaching degree at Florida Southern College before attending the University of South Florida focusing on physical education and special needs populations. She then attended the University of South Carolina, where she received her Ph.D in Physical Education and Health Pedagogy with a cognate in Diversity Studies. Vall started her career as a Title 1 middle school public school educator. After a few years, Vall began working in the healthcare setting and continued to teach at the university level. Vall then began managing the employee wellness team at a large Healthcare system in Georgia. Vall then spent 5 years serving as the Child Health and Wellness director at the Georgia Department of Public Health where she oversaw the Governor’s childhood obesity initiative, Georgia Shape. In this role, she provided leadership in the management and coordination of this statewide, multiagency, multidimensional initiative that brings together governmental, philanthropic, academic, and business communities to address childhood obesity in Georgia. Most recently, Vall became the Executive Director of a non-profit organization called Resilient Georgia whose mission is to lead a state-wide coalition to develop a closely aligned trauma-informed public and private network working toward a united vision to create a birth through 26-year-old integrated behavioral health system.
Contact Kate Holmes at [email protected] for more information.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who should register?
Anyone with an interest in physical education and physical activity in schools and who can dedicate a full three hours to the Online Learning Institute for which they register.
Will I get a certificate of completion for each Online Learning Institute I attend?
Yes, you can receive a certificate for 3, 6, 9, or 12 hours, depending on the number of Institutes you attend.
How long is each Online Learning Institute?
Each Online Institute is three hours long. We ask that if you register for an Online Learning Institute, you join us virtually for the entire three hours.
Are there any limits to how many people can register?
Yes. Each Online Learning Institute can accommodate 30 people. Only register if your schedule allows you to join virtually for the full three hours.
Do I have to register for all four Online Learning Institutes?
No. Feel free to register for as many Online Institutes as your schedule allows you to attend.
Are the Online Learning Institutes in person?
No. The Online Learning Institutes are completely virtual. We will be using the Zoom platform and request that all attendees join via video (if you have that technology available).