Community Health Works, Houston and Bibb County Schools, and HealthTeacher Partner to Teach Kids Health Literacy

(BUSINESS WIRE)--Community Health Works announced that teachers in Houston and Bibb County will be the first of seven central Georgia school districts to have access to HealthTeacher’s comprehensive K-12 online health education curriculum with the goal of improving the health literacy of children and teens in Central Georgia. The partnership will eventually encompass approximately 4,200 teachers in 105 participating schools across 7 districts.

This initiative supports Community Health Works’ mission of a regional integration of whole person healthcare, by fostering the health literacy of nearly 66,000 local children and teens. Community Health Works is sponsoring the HealthTeacher curriculum and teacher training for participating schools for three years as part of its efforts to improve the health of children and teens in the Central Georgia region.

”Our unique partnership with area schools and HealthTeacher combines the efforts and resources of the public and private sector to further one of Community Health Work’s primary strategic goals, improving consumer health and health literacy,” says Gregory J. Dent, President & CEO of Community Health Works. “HealthTeacher’s approach to health literacy on topics such as nutrition and exercise will be an excellent resource for students and teachers as our community takes a stand against childhood obesity and its harmful effects on life long health. We hope to expand this program in the future to include the entire twenty-five county region of central Georgia.”

Many high-risk health behaviors often are established during childhood and adolescence, which extend into adulthood. These behaviors can be addressed and prevented with proper education. According to the Centers for Disease Control in the 2007 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, Georgia students are at a equal or greater risk of current obesity, smokeless tobacco use, episodic heavy drinking as well as lifetime inhalant use when compared to U.S. students.

”We are proud to be working with two leaders in health advocacy and health literacy education to further our efforts to improve the health of our students and community,” says Sharon Patterson, Superintendent of Bibb County Schools. “The HealthTeacher curriculum is designed to be simple and easy to use for our educators. With lessons relevant to today’s world and aligned to National Health Education Standards, this program will help our teachers adopt health literacy education seamlessly into their everyday classroom practices.”

According to a 2009 report by Trust for America’s Youth and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies Are Failing in America 2009, Georgia has the third highest obesity rate with 37.3% of Georgia’s children ages 10 -17 being obese or overweight. The study finds that in 30 states, the childhood obesity rate is reaching epidemic proportions with 30% of state's children being overweight.

“This partnership will empower our teachers and community to have a greater impact on the overall health of our students and support our current health education initiatives,” says David Carpenter, Superintendent of Houston County Schools. “One of the greatest values of this program is the comprehensive training and support our educators receive while adopting the HealthTeacher curriculum in the classroom. Community Health Works and HealthTeacher are not simply providing our teacher’s a valuable resource, but are helping them make small additions to their classroom practices that have the potential for significant life-long impact on the health of our students.”

Study's show that it's not just the prevalence of childhood obesity that should be a concern:

* 23.9% of children through age 17 have ridden with a driver who had been drinking alcohol.
* 32% of children through age 17 have been offered, sold or given an illegal drug while on school property
* 37.7% of children through age 17 have had at least one drink of alcohol on at least 1 day during the last 30 days before the survey
* 81% of children through age 17 ate fruits and vegetables less than five times per day (CDC, Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 2007)

”Community Health Works’ embraces whole person healthcare which fits naturally with our program to improve health literacy and empower children to make positive health and wellness choices for their future success,” says Scott McQuigg, Chief Executive Officer of HealthTeacher. “Community Health Works is supporting teachers by underwriting the health education resources they need to make a positive lifetime impact on the health and wellness of children in Houston and Bibb Counties.”

The HealthTeacher curriculum covers 10 key topic areas designed to help students develop a knowledge and skills needed pursue healthy lifestyles throughout their lives. Designed for K-12 teachers and students, the HealthTeacher curriculum is aligned with the National Health Education Standards that requires instruction in five key areas:

* Health
* Nutrition
* Mental health
* Injury prevention
* Tobacco, alcohol and drug use

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University System of Georgia a National Leader in Increasing Production of Teachers, Especially Minorities

Though much work remains, the University System of Georgia (USG) has made great strides in its efforts to produce teachers to work in Georgia's K-12 schools, according to officials in charge of the System's educator-preparation program. This includes not only graduating more teachers but improving diversity and the retention of teachers in K-12 schools.

During an update today to the Board of Regents' Academic Affairs Committee, Dr. Marti Venn, senior executive director of educator preparation and program improvement in the Department of P-16 Initiatives, reported that the USG produced 4,236 teachers in 2008, an increase of 11 percent over 2007, despite budget constraints. The number of minority teachers in those ranks also increased by 31 percent during the same period.

"These are among the highest such increases in the country," said Venn, who noted that, since 2002, when the Regents' Principles for the Preparation of Educators for the Schools took effect, nearly 25,000 new teachers have rolled off the University System's production line and into classrooms, a 59 percent increase, overall.

But quantity is just part of the teacher-preparation equation. "USG quality translates into more teachers in the classroom, higher retention rates and high customer satisfaction," Venn said. "Teachers prepared by USG institutions are highly sought after – the overwhelming majority of USG-prepared teachers (79 percent in 2007) are hired immediately upon completion of their programs. The two-year retention rate for USG-prepared teachers is 89 percent compared to 76 percent for non-USG graduates. And 98 percent of school administrators hiring our graduates – our customers – would recommend to their peers the USG institution that prepared them."

Referring to the USG's ongoing commitment to meet 80 percent of the state's need for teachers by 2020, Venn said, "Will we meet our goal simply by churning out large numbers of new teachers? Absolutely not. We will use a three-tiered approach to continue to strengthen our efforts to ensure that by the year 2020 there will be sufficient numbers of qualified teachers in the every classroom in Georgia. First, we will continue to ramp up our efforts to recruit and train new teachers; we will provide professional-development opportunities in order to retain good teachers; and we will retrain teachers to meet school needs."

This plan will be accomplished through "the innovative and pioneering work taking place on USG campuses throughout the state and with the help of our K-12 partners and those at the state level – the Department of Education, the Professional Standards Commission and the Student Finance Commission," Venn added.

As Georgia's need for more qualified teachers has grown along with its burgeoning population, the USG has responded by adding new teacher-preparation programs at Dalton State College (2004), Georgia Gwinnett College and Macon State College (2005), Gainesville State College and Gordon College (2006) and the College of Coastal Georgia and Middle Georgia College (2008).

In 2008, 17 USG institutions were involved in preparing educators, and work is under way to add four more to the list. Among the 17 campuses preparing teachers, the percentage of new teachers produced in 2007 working in Georgia public schools in 2008 ranged from 66 percent to 100 percent, and at nine of these campuses, it was greater than 80 percent.

The USG has also responded to Georgia's increased need for teachers by:
increasing its production of minority teachers by 54 percent since 2004. Georgia State University and Albany State University have been so successful that they now rank No. 12 and No. 14 nationally in this regard; and
developing innovative ways of delivering programs, such as offering online master's degrees in teaching through www.GeorgiaONmyLINE.org and "one-stop shopping" for teaching programs and resources at www.destinationteaching.org, which has been heavily used by career-changers considering teaching options.

For more details about the increase in the number of teachers produced and indicators of the quality of these USG graduates, the just-released 2008 Report on the Preparation of New Teachers by University System of Georgia Institutions is posted online at www.usg.edu/p16/resources/PDFs/2008_teacher_prep_report.pdf

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Georgia State College of Education prepares high school students to be teachers

Georgia State University’s College of Education is working to meet the teacher shortage by preparing the next generation of science and math educators.

Each summer, the college hosts the Advanced Academy for Future Teachers, a three-week, math and science-based program for rising high school juniors and seniors from Atlanta Public Schools and other metro systems.

This year’s academy will be held June 8-26 at Georgia State’s downtown campus. The Advanced Academy for Future Teachers is now seeking motivated Atlanta area high school students who want to build the teaching skills and explore the profession in an urban environment.

Applications are due by April 30. Information is available online at: http://education.gsu.edu/aaft. Or, call 404-413-8121 with any questions.

Since 2001, the college, working with the Atlanta Public School system, has prepared over 240 high school students. As a reward for successful completion of the program, they collect a $200 stipend.

At the academy, students focus on math and science concepts as they acquire teaching and tutoring skills. They also develop personal insights that enhance teamwork and leadership opportunities.

“It’s been great working with other students who want to be teachers. Everyone has different approaches and different ideas,” said Sarah Gibson, who participated in last summer’s academy when she was a senior from Pope High School in Marietta, Ga.

Students collaborate with faculty, attend educational workshops and participate in other personal and professional development activities. They focus on teaching pedagogy, math and science content as well as communication and interpersonal skills.

Students also have an opportunity to teach their peers both individually and in groups. Their presentations are later reviewed by their classmates, who offer praise and advice on how they might improve.

“This is the experience I need to learn about teaching and to prepare myself,” said Bianca Poindexter, who participated in last summer’s academy as a senior at Frederick Douglass High School in Atlanta.

Applications are online and can be submitted three ways: Scan and send electronically to AAFT@gsu.edu, fax to 404-413-8103 or mail to Laurie Forstner, AAFT Coordinator, Georgia State College of Education, P.O. Box 3980, Atlanta, Ga., 30302-3980.

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