Visit the National Academies Press online and register for

THE ROLE OF SCHOOLS
The evidence base summarized above supports the need to place greater 
emphasis on physical activity and physical education for children and ado-
lescents, particularly on the role schools can play in helping youth meet 
physical activity guidelines. 
Physical education has traditionally been the primary role played by 
schools in promoting physical activity. Despite the effectiveness of quality 
physical education in increasing physical activity, challenges exist to its 
equitable and effective delivery. Fiscal pressures, resulting in teacher layoffs 
or reassignments and a lack of equipment and other resources, can inhibit 

---

Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Educating the Student Body: Taking Physical Activity and Physical Education to School
Summary
 
5
the provision of quality physical education in some schools and districts. 
Schools may lack trained physical educators, and safety issues are associ-
ated with allowing children to play. Policy pressures, such as a demand for 
better standardized test scores through increased classroom academic time, 
further challenge the role of school physical education in providing physical 
activity for youth. Nearly half (44 percent) of school administrators report 
cutting significant amounts of time from physical education, art, music, and 
recess to increase time in reading and mathematics since passage of the No 
Child Left Behind Act in 2001. These challenges have been cited as reasons 
why the percentage of American schools offering physical education daily 
or at least 3 days each week declined dramatically between 2000 and 2006.
Children and adolescents engage in different types and patterns of 
physical activity as the result of a variety of factors, including age and 
access to resources. Exercise capacity in children and the activities in which 
they can successfully engage change in a predictable way across develop-
mental periods. Young children are active in short bursts of free play, and 
their capacity for continuous activity increases as they grow and mature. 
In adults and likely also adolescents, improved complex motor skills allow 
for more continuous physical activity, although intermittent exercise offers 
much the same benefit as continuous exercise when the type of activity and 
energy expenditure are the same. Although the health benefits of sporadic 
physical activity at younger ages are not well established, children require 
frequent opportunities for practice to develop the skills and confidence that 
promote ongoing engagement in physical activity. Physical education curri-
cula are structured to provide developmentally appropriate experiences that 
build the motor skills and self-efficacy that underlie lifelong participation in 
health-enhancing physical activity, and trained physical education special-
ists are uniquely qualified to deliver them.
In the best-possible scenario, however, physical education classes are 
likely to provide only 10-20 minutes of vigorous- or moderate-intensity 
physical activity per session. Physical education, then, although important, 
cannot be the sole source of the at least 60 minutes per day of vigorous- or 
moderate-intensity physical activity recommended to enhance the health 
of children and adolescents. Other ways to promote physical activity in 
youth must therefore be systematically exploited to provide physical activ-
ity opportunities. Family, neighborhood, and community programs can be 
a source of such additional opportunities. Moreover, other school-based 
opportunities, including intramural and extramural sports programs, active 
transport to and from school, classroom physical activity breaks, recess, 
and before- and after-school programming, all can help youth accumulate 
the recommended 60 or more minutes per day of physical activity while in 
the school environment. Yet educators and policy makers may lack aware-
ness and understanding of how physical activity may improve academic 

---

Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Educating the Student Body: Taking Physical Activity and Physical Education to School
6