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Monitoring Physical Education and Opportunities 
for Physical Activity in Schools
Recommendation 4: Education and public health agencies at all govern-
ment levels (federal, state, and local) should develop and systematically 
deploy data systems to monitor policies and behaviors pertaining to phys-
ical activity and physical education in the school setting so as to provide 
a foundation for policy and program planning, development, implementa-
tion, and assessment.
The intent of this recommendation is to give citizens and officials 
concerned with the education of children in the United States—including 
parents and teachers as well as education and public health officials at the 
local, state, and federal levels—the information they need to make decisions 
about future actions. Principals, teachers, and parents who know that regu-
lar vigorous- and moderate-intensity physical activity is an essential part of 
the health and potentially the academic performance of students and who 
have adopted a whole-of-school approach to physical activity will want 
and need this information. This information also is important to support 
the development of strategies for accountability for strengthening physical 
activity and physical education in schools.
Aside from a few good one-time surveys of physical activity during 
physical education classes, remarkably little information is available on 
the physical activity behaviors of students during school hours or school-
related activities. Even the best public health monitoring systems do not 
collect this information. This dearth of information is surprising given that 
school-related physical activity accounts for such a large portion of the 
overall volume of physical activity among youth and that vigorous- and 
moderate-intensity physical activity is vital to students’ healthy growth 
and development and may also influence academic performance and class-
room behavior.
The few existing monitoring systems for school-related physical activ-
ity behaviors need to be augmented. Information is needed not only on 
the amount of vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical activity in which 
youth are engaged but also on its distribution across segments of the school 
day (i.e., physical education, recess, classroom, travel to and from school, 
school-related before- and after-school activities). Existing national surveys 
are not designed to provide local or even state estimates of these student 
behaviors. State departments of education, local school districts, and state 
and local health departments will need to collaborate to provide adequate 
monitoring. Also needed is augmented monitoring of physical activity–
related guidelines, policies, and practices at the federal, state, and local 
levels. 

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Educating the Student Body: Taking Physical Activity and Physical Education to School
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