Nutrition and Physical Education Policy and Practice in Pacific Region Secondary Schools. Summary. Issues &amp; Answers. REL 2012-No. 117
Author: Wilson, Melly
Date: 2011-11-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Food Service,Secondary Schools,Physical Education,Health Education,Physical Activities,Evaluation,Physical Education Teachers,Obesity,Nutrition,Eating Habits,Food,Wellness,Physical Fitness,Children,Adolescents,Foreign Countries

The report describes the percentage of secondary schools that have adopted policies and practices for student wellness, physical education, food service, and nutrition education across the seven jurisdictions in the Pacific Region. Policies include providing professional development for lead health education teachers, developing strategies to promote healthy eating, forming a health council, and providing or prohibiting certain foods. Practices include requiring nutrition and physical education courses, and assessing physical activity or nutrition, and encouraging family and community involvement in health topics. This study is guided by eight research questions: (1) What are the current policies for student wellness, physical education, food service, and nutrition education in secondary schools in the seven Pacific Region jurisdictions?; (2) What percentage of secondary schools in the seven Pacific Region jurisdictions teach a required health education or physical education course?; (3) What percentage of lead health education teachers in secondary schools in the seven Pacific Region jurisdictions are offered professional development in nutrition and dietary behavior or physical activity and fitness? What percentage of physical education teachers are certified?; (4) What percentage of secondary schools in the seven Pacific Region jurisdictions offer certain types of healthy or unhealthy foods for purchase?; (5) What percentage of secondary schools in the seven Pacific Region jurisdictions implement specific strategies to promote healthy eating?; (6) What percentage of secondary schools in the seven Pacific Region jurisdictions have some type of health council?; (7) What percentage of secondary schools in the seven Pacific Region jurisdictions encourage family and community involvement in health topics?; and (8) What percentage of secondary schools in the Pacific Region use some type of evaluation instrument to assess physical activity or nutrition? Key findings include: (1) The most common nutrition and physical education policies in secondary schools in the seven Pacific Region jurisdictions are physical education curriculum standards (six jurisdictions), student wellness policies (five jurisdictions), and school foods policy (five jurisdictions); (2) Fewer than half the jurisdictions have nutrition education curriculum standards, provide nutrient content for school meals to students and parents, or require physical education in every grade. Only one jurisdiction, Hawaii, has a nutrition or health advisory council; (3) American Samoa is the only jurisdiction that reported 100 percent of secondary schools requiring a health education course in grades 6-12, and the Republic of Palau is the only jurisdiction that reported requiring a physical education course in all secondary schools in grades 6-12; (4) All jurisdictions reported that more than 75 percent of their secondary schools' physical education staff members are certified in physical education; (5) Only American Samoa (11.5 percent) and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (14.3 percent) reported double-digit percentages of secondary schools that allow students to purchase fruits or nonfried vegetables in vending machines or school stores. Guam and the Republic of Palau reported that no schools in their jurisdictions offer such products for sale to students; (6) More than half of secondary schools in Guam and Hawaii prohibit advertising and promoting candy, fast food, and sodas in school buildings, on school grounds, on school buses or other vehicles used to transport students, in school publications, and through sponsorship of school events on school premises; (7) Across the Pacific Region, 83 percent of secondary schools have someone who oversees or coordinates school health and safety programs; (8) Approximately 83 percent of secondary schools in the Republic of Palau help students' families develop or implement policies and programs related to physical activity and nutrition and healthy eating, while 24 percent of secondary schools in Hawaii and 18 percent of secondary schools in Guam do; and (9) The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and the Republic of Palau are the only two jurisdictions in which more than 70 percent of secondary schools use some type of self-evaluation instrument to assess physical activity or nutrition policies, activities, and programs. (Contains 4 notes.) [For the full report, &quot;Nutrition and Physical Education Policy and Practice in Pacific Region Secondary Schools. Issues &amp; Answers. REL 2012-No. 117,&quot; see ED526430.]