Collaboration of two state agencies to support health and physical education in schools

Background: Hawaii dedicates a portion of its Tobacco Settlement monies to chronic disease prevention and health promotion. As a result of these funds, the Hawaii State Department of Health (DOH) established the Healthy Hawaii Initiative (HHI) in 2000 to serve as a statewide effort to encourage healthy eating, physical activity, and tobacco free lifestyles. One component of HHI is a schools-based initiative where a unique partnership has been developed between two state agencies – the Hawaii State Departments of Health and Education. Their collaboration has strengthened and restructured health and physical education in Hawaii through environmental, policy, and systems changes. Since HHI's inception, health and physical education resource teachers (RTs) have been key players in implementing the HHI schools program. RTs work at the state and district level to provide standards-based professional development, technical assistance and instructional support for teachers and schools. They organize workshops, professional development courses, health and physical education resources, support wellness guidelines, and help mentor model school programs.

Findings and Results: Independent evaluators are responsible for monitoring the number of HHI training events held, the number of teachers trained, school performance data, survey results, and baseline data from the model school programs. Data from the 2010-2011 school year will be presented to help demonstrate the success of the HHI schools program.

Significance: The school setting provides a valuable opportunity to educate and expose students to healthy behaviors. Furthermore, numerous studies have proven that healthy students are better able to learn, which translates to improved student achievement.