Pumping UP P.E. in Clay, Crawford, Jasper, Lawrence, and Richland Counties

Pump Up P.E.: Promote Health, Learning and Lifelong Fitness, a program of the Illinois Public Health Institute, is a day-long professional development workshop for physical education teachers.

This interactive workshop helps P.E. teachers implement high-quality enhanced P.E. programs, which are developmentally-appropriate, standards-based, and engage students in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) for at least 50% of class time. Enhanced P.E. programs prepare students with the knowledge, skills and confidence to enjoy the lifelong benefits of healthy habits and fitness.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends Enhanced P.E., an evidence-based intervention shown to increase physical activity among students. A growing body of neuroscience research also demonstrates a connection between physical activity and improved academic, health, and behavioral outcomes among students. Pump Up P.E. has been independently evaluated and was shown to increase the confidence and capacity of P.E. teachers to implement enhanced P.E. and, in combination with other professional development opportunities, increase moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) levels in the P.E. classes of teachers who attended the training.

With support from the Illinois PRC, IPHI partnered with the Regional Office of Education #12 to bring this training to teachers in Clay, Crawford, Jasper, Lawrence, and Richland counties. 27 P.E. teachers from 13 districts (22 schools) attended the training. There are 8,519 students enrolled at these schools. Sixty-eight percent of attending schools had 40% or more of their students defined as low-income by the Illinois State Board of Education. Each training participant left with a comprehensive binder of resources to help them implement what they learned at their schools and share their learnings within their districts.

To date, Pump Up P.E. has been delivered 54 times to over 1,000 P.E. teachers representing over 300 districts across Illinois. IPHI continues to offer Pump Up P.E. and will be providing a series of other P.E./health webinars and other training opportunities throughout 2018-19.

Sign up to receive updates on IPHI’s P.E. professional development opportunities here.

Contact Sarah.Chusid@iphionline.org to learn more about Pump Up P.E. trainings/technical assistance opportunities or with any questions.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sarah Chusid, MPS, is the Program Manager for the Center for Policy and Partnership Initiatives at IPHI.