2024 State of SHAPE America

2024 State of SHAPE America

SHAPE America is proud to share the following summary of accomplishments that we have achieved this past year on behalf of the health and physical education (HPE) community.

It has been a joyful year of service for all of us, certainly with unexpected ups and downs, but nonetheless, one in which we saw great opportunities for our HPE community.

Throughout all of it, the SHAPE America team kept our focus on serving and celebrating health and physical education teachers. We worked hard to help them be their best selves so they, in turn, could ensure their students had positive, inclusive, life-changing experiences in health and physical education. And of course, we never let up when it came to advocating for and with our health and physical education community to ensure that strong support is in place for these programs in our schools.

National Standards

2024 is the Year of the Standards! The SHAPE America team could not have been more excited for the launch of the revised national standards this year, nor could we be more grateful to the two incredible task forces that have been hard at work over the past three years.

It is one of SHAPE America’s highest honors and privileges to maintain (through ownership of the copyright) and champion the National Physical Education Standards and the National Health Education Standards. They serve as the foundation for well-designed physical education and health education programs across the country.

The National Physical Education Standards were last published in 2013, and the National Health Education Standards were last published in 2007. Indeed, we are also celebrating this momentous time in our professional association’s history because this is the first time ever that

2024 State of SHAPE America

both sets of national standards were revised at the same time and with the opportunity for both task forces to communicate and connect as the work made progress

The National Physical Education Standards Task Force launched in early 2021 and included representation from preK-12 practitioners, PETE faculty, state departments of education, school district level curriculum supervisors, and experts well versed in the following: social and emotional learning; equity, diversity and inclusion; motor development; and physical literacy.

The National Health Education Standards Task Force launched in fall 2021 and included health education teachers, health education teacher education (HETE) professionals, state departments of education, school district level curriculum supervisors, and representatives from important national health education organizations.

Our sincerest appreciation to SHAPE America Director of Educational Content and Programs

Michelle Carter and Senior Manager of Healthy Schools Audra Walters who staffed these task forces and ensured they were able to maintain momentum and receive necessary support.

Both sets of standards were launched at the 2024 SHAPE America National Convention & Expo in Cleveland and have already been met with great excitement and enthusiasm. At state affiliate conferences across the country, we received feedback from teachers and PETE faculty alike regarding how much further these standards will take us in terms of helping students develop skills and motivate them to live a healthy and active life.

In the words of one teacher at a rural Title I school in Missouri:

“I can see it! I can see exactly how I will use these and how they will help my students see that they’re not failing in any way, but that they’re individually able to make progress and achieve their goals.”

Another leader at the Vermont Agency of Education was quoted in a local news article regarding the standards, noting:

“Physical educators are not fitness instructors … they are there to teach to the whole child. They support students’ social and emotional development as well as their knowledge of physical education,” and “I’m just so happy to see [this change] at the national level, because I think the seeds of this kind of thought process were already happening in Vermont … to see it nationally recognized is a mooring for those kinds of conversations in inclusivity.”

We have been heartened by this kind of feedback, which has also been backed up by an unsolicited and ringing endorsement from the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), our nation’s second largest teacher’s labor union, representing 1.72 million teachers across the country.

Randi Weingarten, AFT president, stated:

“The AFT applauds SHAPE America for understanding that educators today need a culture of collaboration, proper teaching and learning conditions, and real voice and agency. Inclusive task forces worked deliberately and thoughtfully to develop the updated National Health Education Standards and National Physical Education Standards through admirably open and iterative engagement. As a result, the new standards reflect educators’ commitment to real solutions for children’s well-being.”

We are grateful for the dedication of the two national task forces that took on the work to revise these standards with an intentional commitment to putting teachers and students first. The amount of time these individuals put in over the past three years is extraordinary.

We are joyful about the end result and are ready to support the standards’ adoption and implementation at every level in the years ahead through the offering of new resources, publications, workshops and professional development opportunities. The Year of the Standards is going to be a fantastic one for SHAPE America and for our teachers!

2024 State of SHAPE America

Leadership

SHAPE America had many opportunities this past year to represent the health and physical education professional community. The following provides a snapshot of some of the events in which we participated:

• Voice in Sport Congressional Briefing on Title IX; The Fair Play for Women Act

• The White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health

• The President’s Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition Meeting

• President’s Budget Briefing at the U.S. Department of Education

• The National Fitness Foundation Meeting

• HHS Food is Medicine Summit, hosted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

• ASAE’s CEO Symposium

• Co-hosted a Leadership Learning Conversations event on the Power of Advocacy with the Society of State Leaders of Health and Physical Education

• Kinesiology Federation Meetings

• Moving Education Forward Panel Discussions, hosted by the Maryland State Department of Education

• The National Healthy Schools Collaborative, convened by Kaiser Permanente Thriving Schools

• Active Schools Strategic Advisory Council

• Title IV-A Coalition

• Student Healthy Advocacy Coalition

• Roundtable on Obesity Solutions, convened by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

• National Educator Shortage Summit, hosted by AASPA

• Champions of Active Women Podcast (for their 100th episode)

• Physical Activity Alliance, through serving on the Sport Steering Committee (SCC)

• Trust for Insuring Educators Annual Meeting

• Joint Commission on Sports Medicine and Science

• Scottish PHE Association Podcast

Advocacy

Advocacy (led by Chief Program Officer Carly Wright) continues to be a critical focus for SHAPE America as we continued to engage with those in key federal offices to build strong support for health and physical education

Thanks to the leadership and efforts of Carly and her team, SHAPE America hosted another incredibly successful SPEAK Out! Day this year in mid-February. SHAPE America’s advocacy consultant and lobbyist Karen Johnson assisted in the successful implementation of this program. More than 141 members attended, representing 40 states.

Participants attended meetings with their members of Congress to share how health education and physical education have made a difference in their states and why health and physical education have never been more important for students. Together, we advocated for funding for Title II and Title IV of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and were grateful for the positive responses we received from many on Capitol Hill. Yet again, it was an incredibly empowering week for the health and physical education community.

2024 State of SHAPE America

Brand Visibility

Additionally, we have continued to increase our brand visibility with our Google Ad Grant. We used approximately $78,000 in Google Ad credits in 2023; the highest performing ads focused on publications and advocacy.

Our brand also continued to flourish online:

• SHAPE America surpassed 31,000 followers on Twitter, 19,000 on Facebook, and 7,000 on Instagram.

• On YouTube, views on the SHAPE America channel increased by 8%.

• Engagement with the Exchange online community platform continues to grow, and we will be piloting small group communities including topic/group specific (Professional Learning Communities) and membership specific (Midwest District).

The SHAPE America website continues to be a strong presence for the organization, as shown in the following data:

From January 1, 2023 – December 5, 2023:

• 1,883,036 page views

• 1m 28s average time on page

• 396,296 users

• 4 pages viewed per user, on average

• 37% bounce rate

Vs. Same Date Range, 2022:

• 7.5% increase in traffic

• 32% increase in average time on page

• 16% decrease in bounce rate

In July, SHAPE America hosted another successful Back to School Summit, with 384 total registrations. The event’s theme was The Inclusive Classroom: Where All Students Belong. Actual attendance on the day of the event ranged from 70 to more than 100 individuals, and registered members enjoyed access to the recorded sessions in the weeks that followed. We’re thankful to have had the opportunity to transition this learning experience to a fully virtual opportunity at no cost to attendees, increasing accessibility to this very important topic for our community.

CDC Cooperative Agreement

SHAPE America continues in our second year of overseeing a highly competitive grant in the form of a Cooperative Agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) We utilized this grant to build and launch the Leading Healthy Schools initiative, which supports school administrator capacity-building to advance health equity and promote healthy schools.

Led by CDC Project Director Kaitlyn Gaddis-Thompson, this project engages school administrators as champions to advance healthy schools through equitable and inclusive programs, policies, and practices that support the implementation of the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) model, to build the skills and capacity of district wellness committees through shared learning experiences and resources, and to share successes for innovative and equitable policies, programs, and practices. SHAPE America is also working with administrators in building support for standards-based health education and physical education. We were excited to welcome the inaugural cohort of Leading Healthy Schools administrators to #SHAPECleveland, where they had the opportunity to meet in person and present to the HPE community.

SHAPE America will build on the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Roundtable Series that was hosted in 2020 by providing focused support for administrators through training and facilitated communities of practice that will be grounded in health equity. The project will also support the development of resources that advance health equity and promote healthy schools, including the re-launching of Exchange, SHAPE America’s online community, which offers peer networking, resource sharing, mentor matches, and communities of practice.

A key partner on this project, Health Resources in Action, has provided valuable expertise in the areas of healthy equity, facilitation, and training.

Serving SHAPE America State Affiliate Leaders

The SHAPE America team was very excited to host the third annual SHAPE America Leadership Summit in February 2024 This year’s event, which had 67 participants from 30 states in attendance (up from 56 participants and 25 states last year), was planned with significant input from the SHAPE America State Affiliate Advisory Council (SAAC).

Once again, the event preceded SPEAK Out! Day and featured trainers who addressed best practices in building a strong culture of engagement and partnership within the board, as well nonprofit finance, accounting and tax status information. Attendees also received updates regarding the launch of revised national standards, the Teacher of the Year program, and health. moves. minds.®

In addition to hosting the third annual Leadership Summit, SHAPE America continued to make dedicated efforts to connect state affiliate leaders with each other and with SHAPE America and to provide them with resources and support. Examples of that included:

1) Publishing a quarterly state affiliate newsletter that allows states to share information with each other, and which provides resources and information from SHAPE America;

2) Continuing the Leadership Conversations Continued (LCC) virtual meeting series, which covered a variety of topics for state and district leaders such as best practices in securing and stewarding organizational sponsors, enhancing membership recruitment and retention efforts, and researching and applying for grant funding.

3) Reaching out to welcome each new state affiliate executive director and providing them with a “SHAPE America Welcome Kit, ” which includes a directory and helpful resources

In addition to these efforts, SHAPE America is now a proud participant in the SHAPE America State Affiliate Advisory Council (SACC), which is composed of 15 members:

• Five SHAPE America district directors (with ongoing terms);

• Five current state affiliate executive directors (one from each of the five SHAPE America Districts), to serve two-year terms;

• Three at-large members (current SHAPE America members with proven affiliate experience and knowledge), to serve 2-year terms;

• Two SHAPE America board leaders, to include the CEO (with an ongoing term) and an additional member of the SHAPE America Executive Committee (to rotate as appropriate).

The council acts as an advisory body to support broad collaboration, connection and communication between SHAPE America state affiliates, both with each other and with SHAPE America.

2024 State of SHAPE America

SHAPE America National Convention & Expo

SHAPE America was thrilled to host a successful 2024 National Convention & Expo in Cleveland (planning for which was led by Director of Professional Learning Events & Programs Chasity Burns). SHAPE America has not hosted a national convention in our Midwest District since 2010 when we were in Indianapolis, and our colleagues in Ohio AHPERD and Midwest District were true partners in helping us achieve a high energy, successful event!

We were very pleased to accept more programming through the Call for Proposals (CFP) this year. Additionally, roughly 25% of our accepted programming from the CFP represented the EDI and SEL sub-categories. The convention’s keynote speaker lineup included:

• Jess Sims, Peloton instructor, ESPN’s College GameDay reporter, and contributor on Good Morning America.

• Matthew Grimes, inaugural Head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at the Cleveland Guardians Major League Baseball team, who delivered the annual Chuck and Cathie Corbin Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Keynote

The SHAPE America National Teachers of the Year were announced at the Closing General Session

Thanks to our official equipment provider Gopher, presenters and participants had ready-touse equipment for the many activity sessions held during the national convention.

SHAPE America recognizes and extends our deepest gratitude to Gopher for continuing to serve as our exclusive equipment provider for the national convention! We are thrilled that the stress of needing to obtain local equipment has now been alleviated for us and for any state affiliate organization we might partner with.

2024 State of SHAPE America

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

Advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion in health education and physical education will always be a priority for SHAPE America. EDI is the overarching pillar in SHAPE America’s Strategic Direction, and we simply cannot grow as an organization if we do not continue to make this a key priority. Members of marginalized communities must be able to see a place for themselves within the SHAPE America organization in our membership, in our professional development offerings, in our awards programs, and in our volunteer leadership opportunities

Though an unfortunate cyber incident set us back significantly last year, the upside to the situation was that SHAPE America upgraded its membership database, giving us the opportunity to collect membership demographic data through the renewal or application process. This will allow us to eventually establish appropriate benchmarks for goals to diversify paid membership and the field as a whole. This task will not be easy. We’ve made tangible progress in many respects when we consider the makeup of the SHAPE America Board of Directors, SHAPE America Program Councils, the SHAPE America Editorial Board, our current slate of published authors, the standards revision task forces, and our flagship awards programs.

For example, for the 2024 District Teacher of the Year cycle, there was an increase in diverse candidates that applied for the award. We continue to make this a key focal point in our work with the state affilates, to support growth of their Teacher of the Year award programs. More than anything, we realize we need to find ways to help states build capacity in mentoring applicants as they prepare to apply.

Though we celebrate the moments of progress, we must also acknowledge that when it comes to the larger HPE community, much more work needs to be done. This is a complex and challenging area for many, but one in which SHAPE America will continue to push forward with the strong support of our Board of Directors and our EDI Committee.

The moments of progress we experience are motivating, particularly as they relate to the revised national standards. Both task forces were intentional in using language such that the standards can easily be adopted in any state (regardless of that state’s politics) while still ensuring that the underlying foundation of both sets of revised standards is based on serving ALL students and advancing equity and inclusion. The task ahead is now for SHAPE America to build out the resources, trainings and publications (such as the recently published Intersectionality in Health Education book) to allow our teachers the chance to grow in their own understanding of equity, diversity and inclusion and how it can be fostered through their health education or physical education program.

Publications and Resources

On the publications front, SHAPE America welcomed back previous staff member Laura Strecker, who now serves as Publications Manager and Editor. Under her leadership, SHAPE America continues to publish four journals that reach over 100,000 readers on five continents. Combined, we publish 25 issues annually and manage over 1,200 manuscript submissions. Article submissions and full text article downloads continue to be very healthy, and most all of the journals have a sufficient backlog (we continue to engage in ongoing efforts to improve the backlog of Strategies, which has recently seen an uptick in submissions).

In total, 255 full-length articles were published in 2023 (nearly 50 more than last year) Here are a few particular highlights:

• Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport (RQES), which has an impact factor of 2.2, had more than 900 article submissions, published 128 articles, and saw an increase in online downloads with more than 260,000 articles, making it one of the top downloaded journals with Taylor & Francis

• The American Journal of Health Education (AJHE) published 42 peer-reviewed articles in 2023. In January 2024, it published an important open access article titled “Comparing the Use and Effectiveness of In-Person and Remote Physical Education Delivery During the COVID19 Pandemic ” Full-text article downloads remain at over 80,000.

• JOPERD published an article in February 2024 titled “The Role of Physical Education Within the National Physical Activity Plan,” which provides an overview of Education Sector strategies and their related tactics, along with objectives specific for K-12 school physical education programming. This journal’s online reach grew for the ninth straight year, seeing 208,000 article downloads, up from last year.

• Strategies, which published 24 articles last year and is circulated to more than 3,200 institutions globally, featured an article “Outdoor Education as a Service-Learning Project,” which provided resources, tips and suggestions for planning and implementing a successful outdoor education experience in a physical education program.

2024 State of SHAPE America

SHAPE America also welcomed Fran Cleland as Book Acquisitions and Production Manager. Under her leadership, we are proud to have new books in various stages of production, including and most especially two new books on the national standards which will be out in late summer 2024 Additionally, over the past year, SHAPE America was proud to publish the following:

• Qualitative Research and Evaluation in Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy by Kevin Andrew Richards, Michael A Hemphill, and Paul M Wright

• Intersectionality in Health Education by Cara Grant and Troy Boddy

We also share relevant content through Momentum magazine, our biweekly email newsletter, Et Cetera, and the SHAPE America Blog (all 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: Momentum Magazine:

• The Spring 2023 issue of Momentum featured a cover story by Emily Jones, Ben Schwamberger, Luis Sanchez-Martinez, Victor Ramsey, and Tan Leng Goh about how cross-sector collaborations can unlock potential for students and communities.

• The Fall 2023 issue included a feature article by Kanae Haneishi about building an inclusive mindset in preservice health and physical education teachers, as well as a cover story on The Inclusive Classroom, with insights from SHAPE America’s 2023 National Teachers of the Year.

• The Winter 2024 issue included a feature article about how the new SHAPE America National Physical Education Standards and National Health Education Standards will help students and schools, as well as special profiles on standards task force members.

• We also continued to publish In the Zone which features school success stories and teacher tips for implementing the health. moves. minds.® Fundraiser

Et Cetera:

• This popular email newsletter is delivered biweekly to the inboxes of approximately 45,000 subscribers, helping us engage with SHAPE America members and potential members while providing a platform for advertising revenue. Through this newsletter, we share products, information, and resources that help the HPE community.

SHAPE America Blog:

• The SHAPE America Blog helps to fulfill our mission by sharing insights, ideas, research and resources directly from the HPE community. In 2023, the blog had 155,632 page views, which was an all-time high

• In conjunction with our popular Back to School campaign, we published two blog posts that tied into national standards 5 Strategies for Using the National Physical Education Standards … and the Benefits of Being a Standards-Based PE Teacher and Using the National Health Education Standards and Other Important Elements to Guide Your Teaching in Health Ed as well as a guest post for our administrator audience: 5 Simple Ways Principals Can Prioritize Health and Wellness This School Year

• We continue to publish “promoted content” blog posts from SHAPE America advertisers or sponsors, which offers valuable content to readers while providing us with an additional source of revenue.

2024 State of SHAPE America

Program Council Contributions

SHAPE America’s Program Councils and volunteer leadership groups found various ways to contribute to the content and resource pipeline this past year.

SHAPE America’s Health Education Council, chaired by Rachael Gibson, helped raise visibility and provided webinars and publications for Health Literacy Month (October). They also currently have three task forces underway to develop the following:

• An updated Appropriate Practices in Health Education document;

• A new guidance document on Inclusive Practices in Health Education;

• A new guidance document on recommended time that should be dedicated to teaching health education (anticipated 2024 release);

SHAPE America’s Physical Activity Council, chaired by Lisa Paulson, continued to help develop monthly activity calendars (in partnership with the other councils). Additionally, the council released the following position statements:

• Code of Ethics for Health Educators, Physical Educators, and Wellness Professionals

• Comprehensive School Physical Activity Programs: Opportunities and Access for All

The SHAPE America Physical Education Council, chaired by Adriana Lucero, released a new guidance document on the Appropriate Use of Technology in Physical Education.

The SHAPE America Professional Preparation Council, chaired by Elizabeth Sharp, with an assist by Leah Ketcheson and LeAnn Olson, continued to maintain two task forces (on PETE/HETE recruitment and on social justice in PETE/HETE programs), in addition to hosting the Higher Education Professional Preparation Summit (HEPPS) and monthly convenings of the Undergraduate Student Leadership Network. This council also hosted its annual #CareerWhy video series featuring PETE/HETE faculty.

SHAPE America’s Research Council, chaired by Tan Leng Goh, hosted Research Fellow Showcase: Unveiling New Research in Health and Physical Education, a free virtual event featuring the three 2023 SHAPE America Research Fellows. This council also published three issues of the Research in Motion newsletter

SHAPE America’s Measurement and Evaluation SIG, HPE State and District Administrators SIG, and Curriculum and Instruction SIG all hosted virtual events this past year

SHAPE America Content Channels

In addition to our traditional publications, SHAPE America offered content for the HPE community across a variety of channels and in different formats last year.

Thanks to Chasity Burns, Director of Professional Learning Events and Programs, and Jenifer Medina, Professional Learning Events, Programs and Social Impact Coordinator, SHAPE America again offered PD opportunities through our By You, For You Webinar Series, which featured a diverse array of topics and presenters.

Unplugged, a podcast hosted by the SHAPE America CEO, unveiled its fifth season last year, featuring many health and physical education leaders from throughout the community including:

• Chuck and Cathie Corbin

• SHAPE America Advocacy Consultant Karen Johnson

• GENYOUth Student Ambassadors

• GENYOUth’s Lauren Izzo

• Past SHAPE America Presidents Fran Cleland, Judy LoBianco, and Jackie Lund

• Michelle Carter

• Director of the Division of Adolescent and School Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Dr. Kathleen Ethier

• Comprehensive Health & Physical Education Coordinator, Office of Standards, Division of Teaching and Learning Services, New Jersey Department of Education, Lennie Parham

Sean Nevills continued to serve as the host of the SHAPE America Podcast, which included episodes for the SHAPE America EDI Podcast, as well.

SHAPE America additionally had the opportunity to partner with a number of youth sports national organizations to co-create resources and curriculum. These organizations included USA Lacrosse, Jr. NBA and GENYOUth. We continue to work on new potential projects with the National Institute on Drug Abuse, USA Baseball, and the NHL.

In particular:

• SHAPE America completed work to co-create new content through a partnership with USA Lacrosse, which entailed development of a PE Lacrosse curriculum for grades 412

• We continued in our partnership with GENYOUth, which involves updating the existing NFL Flag curriculum to align with the revised standards.

• SHAPE America is working with Jr. NBA to collaborate on a school-based Jr. NBA Leagues program The program focuses on 10 markets (identified by Jr. NBA) with

benchmarks to identify an agreed upon number of Title I schools in each market. SHAPE America collaborated in developing the overall program model and evaluation design, assisted in making introductions to PE supervisors in each of the 10 markets, and promoted the program to the larger SHAPE America membership

• Looking ahead, we continue to collaborate on customized curriculum-related projects with the National Institute on Drug Abuse (new mini-lessons for National Drug & Alcohol Facts Week) and USA Baseball (update to the existing Fun at Bat curriculum). We also continue to work through our colleagues at the Washington Capitals to develop a jointpitch to the NHL to co-create youth street hockey curriculum.

SHAPE America also continues to have strong partnerships with other NGO organizations, which has also allowed us opportunities for visibility and connections. These organizations include (but are not limited to) the CDC, the National Academy of Sciences, Advocates for Youth, Alliance for a Healthier Generation, the American Federation of Teachers (which fully endorsed both sets of standards!), the two principals associations, Peer Health Exchange, SEICUS, APHA, the Office of Domestic Policy, and many other public and private groups. We are also thrilled to have formed a partnership with the Society of State Leaders of Health and Physical Education.

SHAPE America’s Emerging Leaders Innovation Team (ELIT) hosted another HPE Speed Learning Event in February this year. This free online professional development opportunity covered a wide variety of important health and physical education topics specific to newer professionals in the field.

Finally, SHAPE America also piloted new modalities of online learning this year. We offered a new SHAPE America professional learning experience (PLE) Teaching SEL in Health Education that combined high-quality professional development with enrollment in a private, professional learning community. We also offered Teaching SEL in Physical Education, a two-part, workshop-style webinar series, which combined instructional and collaborative components. We look forward to expanding upon these modalities of online learning in the coming year as we will be providing an array of professional learning opportunities around the new national standards.

Higher Education

SHAPE America engaged the health and physical education higher education community this past year in numerous ways. In addition to the publication of SHAPE America’s six journals, we undertook a variety of outreach efforts and activities, including:

• SHAPE America continued to serve as a CAEP SPA and provided support and assistance to PETE and HETE programs undergoing SPA reviews. Along these lines, we hosted seven workshops for the higher education community about SPA recognition, three being for those interested in serving as SPA program reviewers, including an inperson workshop at #SHAPECleveland and four for individuals interested in writing program reports. We are also currently identifying topic areas related to the SPA program review process so we may provide additional resources and trainings next year.

• Members of the higher education professional community were instrumental in the work to revise the national standards, especially through participation in virtual town halls, focus groups, surveys, and convention sessions. SHAPE America is now beginning to engage our PETE and HETE colleagues in conversations regarding the process ahead to revise PETE and HETE standards. We anticipate these conversations kicking off at the 2024 SHAPE America Summer Institute in Minneapolis and continuing over the next year or so.

• SHAPE America representatives have had the pleasure of meeting and speaking to students at PETE/HETE programs across the country.

• SHAPE America’s Professional Preparation Council hosted another highly successful Higher Education Professional Preparation Summit (HEPPS) on the Tuesday during the #SHAPECleveland Expanding from six sessions in its inaugural year to 10 sessions this year, HEPPS was well attended, met with positive reviews, and addressed timely and relevant topics within the PETE/HETE professional community.

• Functioning under the SHAPE America Program Councils, special interest groups (SIGs) have identified various ways to contribute and engage members:

o The Measurement and Evaluation SIG hosted Exploring AI-Enhanced Assessment for Health and Physical Education, a free virtual event featuring Collin Brooks which explored cutting-edge applications of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance assessment practices.

o The National Board Certified Teachers SIG continues to conduct outreach and host events to support NBCT candidates.

o The Health and PE State and District Administrators SIG hosted regular meetings to receive and discuss the revision of the standards.

o The Curriculum & Instruction SIG also hosted virtual events this past year.

State Teacher of the Year Partner Program

We are extremely proud of our ongoing State Teacher of the Year Partner Program, which came about thanks to the hard work and efforts of Beth Bennett and Michelle Carter, and due to the generous support from the SHAPE America Teacher of the Year Partner Network (Gopher, SPARK, Wellness Training Specialists and Goodheart-Willcox Publisher). This program provides state affiliates with tools, resources and financial support for their state Teacher of the Year awards program. It is available to every SHAPE America state affiliate, and in the first year of the program, 13 states chose to participate.

We are proud to share that in this second year of the program, 15 states are now participating and sharing highly positive feedback about the support they are receiving. We are eager to work with them as they look to grow their state Teacher of the Year program and to celebrate their current state Teachers of the Year (Note: State Teachers of the Year from SHAPE America state affiliate organizations have always been eligible to apply for SHAPE America District and National Teacher of the Year awards.)

Finally, based on requests made by state affiliate leaders, we created a new State Teacher of the Year nomination flyer that included a QR code to make it easy for teachers to nominate their peers. These flyers were displayed at state conferences to help promote the state Teacher of the Year program and encourage nominations. We know many teachers are incredibly humble and less likely to nominate themselves. Hence, the flyers, which can be used by any state affiliate, regardless of whether they are participating in this program or not. We hope this new nomination tool helps encourage more teachers to seek information about this program, nominate their peers, or even apply themselves!

We were also pleased to debut a new promo video for the Teacher of the Year program!

health. moves. minds.®

SHAPE America’s flagship fundraising program, health. moves. minds., (led by Vice President of Strategic Partnerships and Fundraising Beth Bennett) continues to be a program in which SHAPE America has heavily invested.

The health. moves. minds. FUNdraiser raises needed funds for schools while spreading the message of kindness. This year’s theme was Let Kindness Guide You, and we were proud to offer a new set of mini-lessons for each grade band, framed around this year’s theme and including a culminating Obstacle Course activity.

This past year we saw positive growth over the prior year, with average event funds raised remaining strong. Further, we celebrated 29 first-year schools participating, and 26 schools chose the Pay-ItForward fundraising option. We also celebrated a 71% fundraiser completion rate of schools that signed up, which was a significant increase over the prior year (whereby we saw a 59% completion rate).

For the 2023-2024 school year, we were also pleased to work with GOPHER to provide additional Rewards for Fundraising Champions (which are tied to the focus of health and wellness) at no additional cost to SHAPE America to achieve positive impact on revenue for the future.

The SHAPE America team’s accomplishments this past year also included the following:

• Developed a new “A FUNdraiser as Easy as 1-2-3” resource to illustrate the simplicity of leading a health. moves. minds. FUNdraiser. Additionally, created sister resources for educators to easily host a FUNdraiser in alignment with Random Acts of Kindness Week and Global Day of Unplugging.

• Introduced a new Five-Year Milestone Award to recognize and celebrate Team Champions and schools that have conducted a health. moves. minds. FUNdraiser for five years These individuals and schools were recognized at the 2024 SHAPE America National Convention & Expo.

• Continued to offer a more streamlined, easy-to-access process for educators who were solely interested in receiving and using the health. moves. minds. education resources.

• Continued to offer 1:1 planning calls with registered Team Champions to provide direct coaching toward a successful fundraiser.

• Continued to offer a series of once-a-month Team Champion Huddles, led by successful Team Champions and the Senior Manager. Huddles allowed prospective and registered Team Champions a forum to ask questions, exchange ideas and learn best practices.

• Continued to offer a state conference toolkit for state conference leaders to effectively promote health. moves. minds. to their attendees. We continued to encourage use of the interest form and associated QR code to generate leads to recruit, in addition to monthly social media graphics and messaging points.

The funds being raised by this program are critical to many schools in building their health and physical education program, but health. moves. minds. has also impacted thousands of students who are receiving important lessons about kindness, empathy and empowerment. To date during the 2023-2024 school year, 2,057,505 students and counting have been impacted by the health. moves. minds. lessons and activities! Additionally, more than 430 teachers requested access to the free program lessons and activities for their school and 89 educators registered as Team Champions to host a health. moves minds. FUNdraiser.

Perhaps most important, though, are the critical life skills students are gaining, such as selfadvocacy, helping others and managing anxiety, which are attained through health. moves. minds. Through this program, we have seen firsthand how positively improving a school’s health and physical education budget impacts not just the students but also their families in achieving better health and wellness throughout a school’s community

Finance and Operations

SHAPE America welcomed new staff members this year including Advertising, Exhibits and Sponsorship Sales Manager Jeffrey Warren; Vice President of Membership, Marketing and Publications Katie Kaefer; Professional Learning Manager Elle Rupert; and Educational Content and Programs Manager Jesse Weber. Laura Strecker also joined us in a contracted position as Publications Manager and Editor, as did Fran Cleland, as Book Acquisition and Production Manager.

As an organization, we experienced many wins and employed strong, sustainable business practices to build organizational capacity this past year thanks to a team led by Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President for Business & Finance Adam Pomerantz.

And thanks to the strong support of our members and our partners, and the prudent financial stewardship of SHAPE America’s staff, SHAPE America advanced our mission, served teachers, and came through the year in strong fiscal health.

SHAPE America’s total operating expenses for fiscal year 2023 were $4 5M (compared to $3.9M in 2022).

The top four categories of expenses were:

▪ Convention.................................................

▪ Administration

▪ Membership Programs & Services ......

▪ Periodicals..................................................

$1.2M ($962K in 2022)

$1.0M ($1.3M, in 2022)

$738K ($456K in 2022)

$323K ($244K in 2022)

Total operating revenue for fiscal year 2023 was $4.3M (compared to $4 5M in 2022)

The top four categories of recurring operating revenue for fiscal year 2023 were:

▪ Convention

▪ Periodicals..................................................

▪ Government Grants

▪ Public Education Programs...................

$1.5M ($1.1M in 2022)

$761K ($855K in 2022)

$368K ($162K in 2022)

$249K ($240K in 2022)

In addition to the above recurring categories, SHAPE America recognized cyber insurance settlement revenue of $715k in fiscal year 2023.

As noted in last year’s report, SHAPE America experienced an unfortunate cyber incident in early 2023. It is fair to say that it impacted us in unexpected ways over the course of 2023, though we were still able to make tremendous impact in advancing our mission and serving health and physical education teachers, as evidenced in this report.

Finally, SHAPE America’s CEO concluded service as the president of the Center for Education Associations (CEA) this past year, an association that provides governance for properties on Association Drive in Reston, VA, where SHAPE America continues to own a building. The CEO continues to provide assistance to the current president, which allows SHAPE America to continue to make progress on a purchase agreement for the sale of its building on Association Drive. We have great confidence in this new agreement and in our partnership with a new purchaser and look forward to being able to come to closure in the next couple of years

Thank you to all for your contributions to our health and physical education community We are so excited for the future at SHAPE America!