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PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY
Given the importance of physical activity to health in youth and 
increasing attention to its role in educational performance, coupled with 
the potential of schools to provide opportunities to be physically active, 
a 14-member ad hoc committee of the IOM was convened and charged 
to review the current status of physical activity and physical education in 
the school environment. The committee was also tasked with reviewing 
influences of physical activity and physical education on the short- and 
long-term physical health, cognition and brain health, and psychosocial 
health and development of children and adolescents. The committee was 
asked to make recommendations, as appropriate, regarding approaches for 
strengthening and improving programs and policies for physical activity 
and physical education in the school environment, including before, dur-
ing, and after school. In doing so, the committee was expected to review 
the current status of physical activity and physical education in the school 
environment; review evidence on the relationship between physical activity, 
physical education, or physical fitness and physical, cognitive and brain, 
and psychosocial health and development; within a life-stage framework, 
consider the role of physical activity– and physical education–related pro-
grams and policies in the school environment in contributing to short- and 

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Educating the Student Body: Taking Physical Activity and Physical Education to School
Introduction
 
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long-term health, health behaviors, and development (e.g., motor and 
cognitive development); recommend, as appropriate, strategic program-
matic, environmental, and policy approaches for providing, strengthening, 
and improving physical activity and physical education opportunities and 
programs in the school environment, including before, during, and after 
school; and, as evidence was reviewed, identify major gaps in knowledge 
and recommend key topic areas in need of research.