More Than 30 Teachers Receive ABL Training

MOUNDSVILLE, WV – More than 30 Marshall County teachers attended the Action Based Learning (ABL) workshop on Tuesday, April 14, featuring nationally known educational consultant Jean Blaydes Madigan.

The workshop introduced new teachers to the ABL curriculum and provided a refresher course for more experienced educators. Action based learning melds the latest brain research with classroom practice to improve students’ motor development, intentional movement and cognition through increased physical activity in and out of the classroom. Madigan’s workshop was open to Marshall County public and private school teachers as well as childcare providers. This is her third trip to Marshall County.

“ABL is a set of strategies that we use to prepare the brain for learning based on the research that supports the link of movement to learning,” Madigan said.

ABL is implemented in local schools through the Marshall County Family Resource Network’s receipt of the three-year Carol M. White Physical Education Grant through the U.S. Department of Education. It’s the same grant that has also brought Archery in the Schools and other programs to Marshall County Schools designed to increase health and wellness for students. June marks the final month for the county’s Carol M. White Physical Education Grant, although it’s hoped that many of the programs – including ABL and Archery in the Schools – remain in Marshall County.

Completed teacher data sheets for gathered for the 2008 Annual Performance Report for the Carol M. White Physical Education Grant Program notes the success of ABL in Marshall County schools:

• 97% of Marshall County students reported increased levels of physical activity.
• 96% made progress toward meeting state standards in physical education.
• 97% improved behavior by demonstrating increased occurrences of positive behaviors.
• 90% of kindergarten through second grade students increased classroom performance in areas such as following directions and reducing disruptive behavior.
• 85% of students showed improvement in academic areas such as sight words and addition and subtraction facts.

Madigan said that one of the best things about ABL is that the program’s effects are measurable and can reduce absenteeism, referrals to the principal’s office and other disciplinary actions.

“If absenteeism improves, that’s money back into the schools,” Madigan said. “If kids are in class, that’s how they get money (from the state and federal governments) to the schools. In Texas, they showed that if absenteeism improved 10%, it would put $237 million back into the schools.”

The workshop, materials and resources to implement Action Based Learning were provided by the Carol M. White Physical Education Program Grant through the Marshall County Family Resource Network. The Carol M. White Physical Education Program is funded through the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools.

The Marshall County Family Resource Network is a not-for-profit organization that builds community partnerships to make Marshall County a better place to live and work. The FRN’s key efforts focus on substance abuse prevention, health and wellness, and community development. It has leveraged more than $2.2 million in state and federal grants to help Marshall County over the past three years.