2021
State of SHAPE America
Cover Photo: Students at French Road Elementary School in Rochester, NY.
State of SHAPE America
2021
Presented by
Stephanie Morris CEO, SHAPE America
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HAPE America is proud to be able to share the following summary of accomplishments we have achieved on behalf of the health and physical education community this past year, as challenging as it has been. Almost one year ago, quite unexpectedly, the world turned upside down overnight (or so it seemed), and the SHAPE America team pivoted from planning a national convention in Salt Lake City to quickly placing a singular focus on one of the main pillars of our strategic direction: providing accessible standards-based, high-quality resources and opportunities that serve current members’ needs and engage, empower and celebrate health and physical educators. Specifically, we moved rapidly to serve teachers trying to teach during a global pandemic, whether those teachers were in a fully virtual setting, a hybrid model, or in-person but physically distancing with students and peers. It is something none of us could have expected or prepared for, but when it happened, SHAPE America stepped up to the challenge and we were ready to serve in several significant ways.
COVID-19 Resources First, led by Director of Educational Content and Programs Michelle Carter, we rallied to collect, curate and produce new COVID-19 resources that we made accessible to all on our website. This included providing free access to resources that were previously a membersonly benefit. Our partners stepped up to help provide lesson plans and activity ideas, and our staff and volunteer leaders were ready to contribute videos, educational materials, and other resources.
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State of SHAPE America
2021
We also found strength and opportunity in our partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as we produced the 2020-2021 School Reentry Considerations: K-12 Physical Education, Health Education, and Physical Activity. This effort was led by Vice President of Advocacy & Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Carly Wright, and we were especially proud of the fact that 2020–2021 these reentry considerations included a strong advocacy call to help make the case to school administrators that not only CAN health and physical education be safely and securely taught during a COVID-19 pandemic, but in fact, these subjects MUST be taught for the health and well-being of our students.
School Reentry Considerations:
The reentry considerations also placed a strong emphasis on ensuring inclusive, equitable teaching practices and trauma-informed approaches, given that we know too many students are experiencing some form of trauma this year. This publication served as the basis for many state school reentry guidelines and has been accessed more than 100,000 times.
K–12 Physical Education, Health Education, and Physical Activity
Our partnership with the CDC expanded significantly as we entered fiscal year 2021 with the opportunity to hire a COVID-19 Program Director, Sean Nevills. Under Sean’s leadership, we relaunched our interactive COVID-19 Resource Library to include lessons, activities and resources from the health and physical education community for in-person, hybrid and distance learning. In his role, Sean has provided professional development and technical assistance on CDC guidance for schools, educator self-care, trauma-informed practices, restorative justice, culturally responsive teaching, and equity, diversity, and inclusion. Additionally, we relaunched the SHAPE America Podcast with Sean as the host and Joey Martelli producing. We encourage you to check out an episode! SHAPE America also worked in partnership with Kaiser Permanente Thriving Schools to author a chapter in their Planning for the Next Normal at School playbook on the importance of health education, physical education and physical activity during the COVID-19 era. SHAPE America, Kaiser Permanente and more than 30 trusted school health organizations developed this playbook to ensure the best conditions for teaching and learning amid COVID-19 — and to ensure that the health of students, teachers, and staff is a top priority in schools. The playbook provides an evolving collection of evidenceinformed guidance and offers useful tools, such as interactive checklists for both schools and families.
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CDC Cooperative Agreement Our work with the CDC on other fronts also continues with leadership from Audra Walters, project director for SHAPE America’s CDC Cooperative Agreement. Through this cooperative agreement, we continue to work with the CDC and other national organizations to support health and physical education programs as well as the overall Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child model through the creation of new resources, such as the Physical Education/ SEL Crosswalk and Health Education/SEL Crosswalk, as well as professional learning opportunities such as the Roadmap to Adapted Physical Education course, which is available on the SHAPE America Online Institute.
Health Education/SEL Crosswalk A lig n in g t he N a t io na l H e a lt h E du c a t io n S t a n da rds w it h C A S E L S o c ia l a nd E m o t io na l L e a rn in g C o re C o m pe t enc ies
Physical Education/SEL Crosswalk A lig n in g S H A P E A m e ric a N a t io na l S t a nd a rds & G r a d e - L e ve l O u t c o m e s f o r K - 1 2 P h y s i c a l E d u c a t i o n w i t h C A S E L S o c ia l a nd E m o t io na l L e a rn in g C o re C o m pe t enc ies
This work with the CDC also brought together voices from the field to a roundtable at our virtual convention to identify the most pressing issues related to equity, diversity and inclusion within the health and physical education field. The call to action resulting from this roundtable will be a launching pad for continued efforts around this vital work.
Advocacy Advocacy (led by Carly Wright) continues to be a critical focus for SHAPE America as we begin working with a new presidential administration, new members of Congress and a new U.S. Cabinet, including a new Secretary of Education. Along these lines, SHAPE America led the way in developing a letter to welcome the new administration and Secretary of Education Dr. Miguel Cardona. Signed by multiple states and organizations, the letter called for ongoing funding and support for health and physical education. SHAPE America was also proud to co-lead efforts alongside the National Association for Secondary School Principals to send a letter to U.S. Congress leadership calling for the immediate removal of Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene from the U.S. House of Representatives Education and Labor Committee. Signed by 46 national organizations in less than 24 hours, these efforts helped overturn this appointment to a critical committee that oversees federal education policy. Though there is a particular focus at the moment on building these new relationships, we also kept up momentum over this past year with efforts to equip teachers with tools and resources to employ backyard advocacy skills, especially in light of the COVID-19
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State of SHAPE America
2021
pandemic. Toward this end, we hosted a successful Online Advocacy Day in July. Advocates got up to speed on national and state school reentry guidance and reached out to their superintendents and schools boards about the importance of prioritizing health and physical education within all models of learning during COVID. We also hosted a webinar this past summer highlighting recent success stories of backyard advocacy efforts that were undertaken by various individuals and state organizations. SHAPE America also hosted its first ever Virtual SPEAK Out! Day, which included opportunities to hear the latest advocacy updates from Carly Wright and SHAPE America’s advocacy consultant and lobbyist, Karen Johnson. More than 160 members (representing 38 states) participated and made appointments for virtual meetings with their members of Congress to share how health and physical education have been faring in their states due to COVID-19 and to advocate for full funding for Title II and Title IV of the Every Student Succeeds Act. Though many of us missed seeing each other in person and having the opportunity to be on Capitol Hill, it was nevertheless an incredibly empowering week for the health and physical education community.
Virtual National Convention & Expo Along the lines of virtual events, SHAPE America is also pleased to be hosting its first ever Virtual National Convention (planning for which was led by Director of Professional Learning Events & Programs Chasity Burns). Though we had hoped to be in person in Baltimore, necessity dictated that we shift to a fully virtual convention. Not to be deterred, SHAPE America engaged a partner to help us deliver a robust, dynamic and engaging virtual platform that hosted more than 100 hours of high-quality professional development, in addition to providing small group opportunities for networking, mentoring and celebrating our health and physical education teachers. The Virtual National Convention also included an exhibit hall and a robust sponsorship program with more than 40 partners on hand to share information about their organization, offer fun giveaway contests, and provide opportunities for self-care practice to remind teachers that they must always remember to take care of themselves in order to be the best teachers they can be for their students. Finally, there were special opportunities to announce and celebrate our 2021 SHAPE America Teachers of the Year, including at our general sessions, which also featured keynote speakers Missouri State Teacher of the Year Darrion Cockrell, Public Education Advocate and EDI Activist Dr. Adolph Brown, and author of the recently published and critically acclaimed book Exercised, Dr. Dan Lieberman.
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Equity, Diversity and Inclusion SHAPE America continues to be committed to advancing equity, diversity and inclusion within our organization and within our professional community. And here we must pause a moment to acknowledge that within our community there is, at times, less certainty about why SHAPE America is focusing on EDI and whether it’s simply a reaction to recent events and national unrest — or, whether the changes we’ve started making are appropriate or right. Change can be hard and uncomfortable. Breaking down processes and systems and talking about the barriers that exist within them — and then finding ways to build better processes and systems — is messy and difficult work. SHAPE America’s leadership embraces the importance of understanding our history and appreciating previous efforts by those who led and contributed in the past, and also the leadership respects that we must learn from the past to build a stronger, more diverse, more inclusive and equitable future for health and physical education professionals.
We must learn from the past to build a stronger, more diverse, more inclusive and equitable future for health and physical education professionals.
Though there is still so much work to do, the changes that have been made this past year are important to acknowledge as they are allowing us to make progress on this front. First, the SHAPE America Board of Directors voted to make the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Task Force a Special Committee. This is an important step forward in ensuring SHAPE America continues to hear from communities largely marginalized within our organization. With input and assistance from this committee, appointments were made to SHAPE America’s nominations, finance and audit committee that reflect greater diversity and inclusion. Recommendations were also made regarding the overall volunteer leader nominations process, which may have led to a greater diversity of candidates represented on this year’s election slate. The committee has been active in making recommendations regarding keynote speakers and programmatic elements of the national convention, as well as changes to the SHAPE America Teacher of the Year program to ensure greater accessibility and equity within the application process. Additionally, the committee made a critical recommendation to rename the Mabel Lee Award, which is given annually to as many as four outstanding and accomplished emerging professionals in the community. The new name of this award honors Dr. Doris R. Corbett Johnson and is more reflective of the diverse, inclusive community we aspire to be. Finally, with assistance from the EDI Committee, SHAPE America is proud to offer a new podcast series dedicated to exploring opportunities to advance EDI within the community, expected to launch later this spring.
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State of SHAPE America
2021
National Standards With the support of our board, we also began work to update SHAPE America’s National Standards for K-12 Physical Education. Last published in 2013, the National Standards serve as the foundation for well-designed physical education programs across the country. A task force was announced earlier this year and includes representation from preK-12 practitioners, PETE faculty, state departments of education, school district level curriculum supervisors, and experts well versed in social and emotional learning, equity, diversity and inclusion, motor development, and physical literacy. The work will be led by Michelle Carter and is expected to take place over the course of approximately two years, with opportunities provided to various stakeholder groups to review and provide feedback along the way. In addition to the National Standards for K-12 Physical Education, SHAPE America is enthusiastic to announce that per an agreement with the American Cancer Society, SHAPE America now holds all rights to the National Health Education Standards, including all revisions and/or derivatives. As leaders in the skills-based health education community, we are thrilled for the opportunity to both safeguard and champion these critical standards for our health educators and their students. And given that they were last published in 2007, we are equally thrilled to embark on an inclusive and collaborative journey in the near future to update these standards in close partnership with our members, health education teachers, health education teacher education professionals and, of course, critical national voices in the health education and public education arena.
Publications On the publications front (led by Vice President of Marketing, Membership and Publications Tom Lawson), we were pleased to see the number of article submissions and full-text article downloads continue to increase this year, with all four member journals maintaining a healthy backlog through the end of summer 2021 at least. Journal circulations increased across the board and in sum, the journals published 174 articles in 2020. The following are a few particular highlights: ■
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RQES will publish a special feature in June 2021 on the “Rationale for the Essential Components of Physical Education” (Shannon L. Michael, Carly Wright, Amelia Mays Woods, Hans van der Mars, Timothy A. Brusseau, David F. Stodden, Sheri L. Burson,
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Jenna Fisher, Chad M. Killian, Shannon C. Mulhearn, Danielle R. Nesbitt and Christopher D. Pfledderer) with input from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This journal also saw online downloads of nearly a quarter of a million articles, which put it in the top 5% of all journals with Taylor & Francis. .146 in
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Health Education Volume 52 Number 1 January–February 2021
.382 in
Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport
UJHE_I_52_1_COVER.indd 1
American Journal of
Volume 52, Number 1, 2021
JOPERD proudly published two major feature articles in 2020, “The A-Z of Social Justice” by Shrehan Lynch, Sue Sutherland and Jennifer WaltonFisette and “Preparing Health and Physical Education Teachers to Become Trauma Invested” by Jennifer Walton-Fisette and Douglas Ellison. The April 2021 issue will feature a special section related to COVID-19 resources and best practices.
ISSN: 1932-5037 American Journal of Health Education
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The American Journal of Health Education (AJHE) published a special issue in January 2021, along with the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing (NCHEC) titled “Making the Case for Health Education with an Emphasis on Updated NCHEC Responsibilities and Competencies” (James Eddy) to discuss how they align with the mission of the AJHE.
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The Portal of Kinesiology Research Volume 91, Number 4, December 2020
Volume 91, Number 4, 2020
Strategies published a major feature issue in the November/December issue titled “Quality Sport Coaching: The Role of the National Standards for Sport Coaches,” (Lori Gano-Overway, Melissa Thompson, Pete Van Mullem, Andrew P. Driska, Tony Moreno, Robert H. Benham, Timothy Baghurst, Laurie Neelis, and Arien Faucett) which drew from the release of the National Standards for Sport Coaches book published by SHAPE America in the fall. This journal will also feature a special issue, “Development of Youth Athletes” (Robert Doan) in its May/June 2021 issue. URQE_I_91_4_COVER.indd 1
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SHAPE America is proud to have 10 new titles of books in development and production. We published two titles in fall 2020, Active Start: Physical Activity Guidelines for Children from Birth to Age 5 and National Standards for Sport Coaches, and in early 2021, we published The Essentials of Teaching Health Education, Second Edition.
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State of SHAPE America
2021
Additionally, this summer we will publish the following: ■
The Essentials of Teaching Physical Education (Stephen Mitchell and Jennifer Walton-Fisette)
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Social and Emotional Learning for Health Education (Mary Connolly)
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Social and Emotional Learning for Physical Education (Paul Wright and K. Andrew R. Richards)
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Physical Activity & Sport for the Secondary School Students (Robert Martin)
We also share relevant content through Momentum magazine, our biweekly email newsletter, Et Cetera, and the SHAPE America Blog (led by Managing Editor Larissa Brickach). Through these digital channels we are able to reach a broader audience, which includes health and physical educators, parents, students, school administrators, potential advertisers/ sponsors, and other advocates. Here are a few highlights:
Spring 2020
Society of Health and Physical Educators
Momentum Magazine:
Teach On
N AV I G AT I N G A N E W W O R L D O F D I S TA N C E L E A R N I N G I N H E A L T H A N D P H Y S I C A L E D U C AT I O N
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The Spring 2020 issue of Momentum — which was in development as the COVID pandemic forced schools to close last March — featured a “day-in-the-life” cover story showing how health and physical educators were adapting to remote teaching (“Teach On: Navigating a new world of distance learning in health and physical education”).
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The Fall 2020 issue was filled with “back to school” content and resources to help HPE teachers make the most of the new academic year, whether through virtual/remote, in-person, or hybrid instruction. In the popular feature article, “Connection Before Content,” the 2020 SHAPE America National Teachers of the Year offered their top tips for teaching during the pandemic.
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We also created a new publication — In the Zone — which began running as a special insert within Momentum. This newsletter features school success stories and teacher tips for implementing the health. moves. minds.® program in health and physical education.
Et Cetera: ■
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This popular email newsletter is delivered biweekly to the inboxes of more than 40,000 subscribers, helping us engage with SHAPE America members and potential members while providing a platform for advertising revenue. We’re proud to say
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In Elk Grove Village, Illinois, physical education teacher Adam Metcalf creates video lessons with assistance from his 4-year-old son, Quinn.
that in FY20, we saw a 39% increase in open rates and 10% increase in click-through rates, which means more health and physical educators are learning about products, resources and information that can help them succeed.
SHAPE America Blog: ■
The SHAPE America Blog helps to fulfill our mission by sharing insights, ideas, research and resources — directly from the HPE community. Since launching at the beginning of FY20, the blog has reached 165,892 page views. The most-viewed articles during this time have been: 1. How to Integrate Social and Emotional Learning in PE to Improve Classroom Climate (Kyle Bragg) 2. Much Ado About Remote Learning in Health and Physical Education (Chad Dauphin) 3. 7 Steps to Go From Surviving to Thriving With HPE at Home (Kate Cox)
SHAPE America Content Channels This year saw us take a critical look at how we distribute content and engage our community. March 2020 was our most impressive month yet in our social media history in terms of strong engagement and growth as well. As the community moved into remote teaching environments, we are proud that we met their need for engagement under the leadership of Advocacy and Public Affairs Manager Joey Martelli. We grew and outpaced projections on each social media platform year over year and were able to release our most popular piece of content this year which doubled as our most popular post, School Reentry Considerations K-12 Physical Education, Health Education, and Physical Activity. We also pivoted to a more interactive model of delivering content which included the relaunch of the SHAPE America Podcast (hosted by Sean Nevills), a refresh of our YouTube channel (with more than 175 videos posted since the pandemic) and the debuts of two new web series, TOY Talk Tuesday (featuring our Teachers of the Year) and Unplugged, which gives me the opportunity to interview members of the community and beyond to get a sense of what is happening in the field.
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State of SHAPE America
2021
health. moves. minds.® As one of three pillars of the SHAPE America strategic direction, the organization’s service-learning program health. moves. minds. (led by Vice President of Strategic Partnerships, Social Impact and Education Beth Bennett and her team) has been a major focus of effort and resources this past year. In particular, we were extremely proud to offer a set of resources (bundled together as health. moves. minds. @Home), which provided activities for families to do together at home during the pandemic. Many of these materials were widely used by health and physical education teachers to compliment virtual programs and lessons, and families shared positive feedback about the opportunity to be physically active and to practice mindfulness together. As of fall 2020, health. moves. minds. educational resources have been translated to work in both virtual and distance learning settings. Virtual celebratory event guides are also available. We’ve also focused our efforts around providing resources and celebratory event ideas that culminate on or around mental health awareness weeks and months in addition to theme weeks around SEL such as World Kindness Day, Random Acts of Kindness Week and National Day of Unplugging. Additionally, more than 600 schools signed on to implement health. moves. minds. fundraising programs in their schools this year, which is a strong indicator that the program is continuing to grow and to be received positively by teachers and administrators. Perhaps most important, though, is the opportunity we have had through health. moves. minds. to help children gain skills to manage the increased feelings of anxiety, loneliness and depression we know they are experiencing during this pandemic. One example of how this has played out comes from a SHAPE America District Teacher of the Year in Kentucky, LaDonda Porter. LaDonda shared that a parent stopped her at a girls’ sporting event this past year because her sixth-grade daughter was in her class. The parent shared that she was thrilled with the lessons her daughter was learning in LaDonda’s class, especially because of all that had been occurring in our nation during that time. The parent thanked LaDonda profusely and noted, “This is what these kids need to hear.” The content LaDonda had been teaching in her PE class? The first lesson of health. moves. minds.
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Big Feats Virtual Race and Impact Schools Grant
2021
Our community-based social impact program, the Big Feats Virtual Race and Impact Schools Grant Program is in its third year. This year SHAPE America selected five Impact School grant recipients as part of a partnership with Gopher Sport to improve existing health and physical education programs across the country. The selected grantees include Title I elementary and middle schools from four states, with free and reduced lunch ranging from 66%-100%. The Big Feats Virtual Race began on March 1 and culminated on April 17 during the 2021 SHAPE America Virtual National Convention & Expo. Participants across the country set their own movement and/or distance goals and completed the race on their own time, at their own pace — all while raising money through their personal networks. Eighty percent of the funds raised by the Big Feats Virtual Race will be allocated to the five Impact Schools. Each school will receive a free membership to SHAPE America, which includes access to an array of curriculum resources. In addition to these opportunities, Gopher is honored to continue their 100% match for recipients of the funds raised through SHAPE America’s Big Feats Virtual Race. Schools that choose to redeem the funds raised through the program with Gopher will receive a 1:1 match, doubling the support for health and physical education locally. New this year, SHAPE America expanded our giveback opportunities to corporate partners through a new Employee Wellness engagement opportunity, known as the “Wellness 4 Good” Challenge. The seven-week challenge brings employee wellness to life through an effective and fun approach that encourages employees to get moving to support a worthy cause. Aligned with the Big Feats Virtual Race, employees select their own movement or physical activity goal and complete the race on their own time, at their own pace — all while raising money to support the Impact School grantees.
Scenes from three of this year’s Impact Schools.
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State of SHAPE America
2021
Volunteer Appreciation Day Appreciating SHAPE America’s volunteer leaders was an important undertaking this past year, especially in absence of hosting a national convention, where we often have the opportunity to lift up and thank members of our community for their leadership and contributions. As a result, our first ever Volunteer Appreciation Day took place in the summer of 2020. Every single SHAPE America volunteer leader was thanked by a board or staff member on this day, including our districts, councils, special interest groups (SIGs), task forces, and committees. We also used this special day to launch the call for applications for volunteer leaders to serve new terms coming open the following year.
Finance and Operations Finally, from a financial and operations perspective, SHAPE America experienced many wins this past year thanks to a team led by Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President for Business & Finance Nori Jones. Following a successful fiscal year 2019, SHAPE America worked with our members and volunteers to transition to the new health. moves. minds. fundraising platform and employed fiscally prudent measures by moving out of SHAPE America’s headquarters building in advance of the sale of the building. This team was also focused on supporting the 2020 SHAPE America National Convention & Expo in Salt Lake City in the months leading up to it. By February 2020, the office was officially closed, the health. moves. minds. program was gaining traction, and, for one brief moment in time, the national convention was on track to meet or exceed budgeted registrations. With the onset of COVID-19, the world turned upside down. Registrants faced travel restrictions. Schools closed. And SHAPE America made the difficult decision to cancel the national convention following CDC recommendations concerning public gatherings and the mandatory temporary closure of the Salt Palace Convention Center. While COVID-19 restrictions certainly had an adverse impact on several sources of revenue, changes resulting from the pandemic also reduced corresponding expenses. In addition, staff had purchased event cancellation insurance in advance of the pandemic, which protected key sources of revenue, and secured a forgivable SBA Paycheck Protection Loan, protecting funds required for our valuable staff. We are also pleased that, recognizing that SHAPE America would no longer own the building at some point in time, we had already taken a year to test and transition to a completely virtual work environment. Doing so not only reduced future building maintenance costs by more than $100,000 per year, but also ensured staff was completely equipped and ready to pivot when COVID-19 forced stay-in-place lockdown measures. We lost no time in continuing full-time operations to serve the health and physical education community and feel incredibly proud of all that was accomplished.
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SHAPE America’s total expenses for fiscal year 2020 were $3.4M, (compared to $5.2M. in 2019). The top four categories of expenses were: ■ ■ ■ ■
Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$995K Membership Programs & Services . . . $594K Convention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $336K Periodicals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $304K
($1.4M, in 2019) ($622K in 2019) ($905K in 2019) ($343K in 2019)
Total Operating Revenue for fiscal year 2020 was $3.0M as compared to $5.6 in 2019. The top four categories of revenue for fiscal year 2020 were: ■ ■ ■ ■
Periodicals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $903K Convention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $897K Membership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $375K Government Grants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $300K
($948 in 2019) ($1.6M in 2019) ($427K in 2019) ($276K in 2019)
The sale of the building owned by SHAPE America is still pending due to delays associated with zoning reviews and a related federal development project; however, the purchaser remains committed and is working closely with the county to address all ongoing reviews.
Thank you to all for your contributions to our health and physical education community. We are so excited for the future at SHAPE America!
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