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Educating the Student Body
FIGURE 2-15 
Provisions on physical education time in district wellness policies, by year and 
grade level. 
NOTE: ES = elementary school; HS = high school; MS = middle school; NASPE = National 
Association for Sport and Physical Education; PE = physical education.
SOURCE: Chriqui et al., 2012. 
Figure 2-15.eps
ES
Percentage Address PE Time
Percentage Meeting
NASPE Standard
MS
HS
P
ercentage of Distr
icts Nationwide with a 
Po
licy 100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
06-07
10-11
06-07
10-11
06-07
10-11
FIGURE 2-16
Selected physical activity provisions in district wellness policies by year.
NOTE: PA = physical activity; PE = physical education.
SOURCE: Chriqui et al., 2012. 
Figure 2-16.eps
PA
Goals
Percentage Address Policy
Percentage with Strong Policy
PA
Throughout
the Day
Community
Use of
Facilities
Safe
Routes to
School
Not
Withholding
Recess/PE
as Punishment
Pe
rcentage of Distr
icts Nationwide with a 
Po
licy 100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
06-07
10-11
06-07
10-11
06-07
10-11
06-07
10-11
06-07
10-11

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Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Educating the Student Body: Taking Physical Activity and Physical Education to School
Status and Trends of Physical Activity Behaviors and Related School Policies
 
83
activity provisions included in local wellness policies since the policies’ 
initial required enactment at the beginning of SY 2006-2007. Although 
addressing physical education is not required for local wellness policies, 
about 90 percent of students attend school in districts that have this provi-
sion across all grade levels. 
School districts have steadily increased the number of physical educa-
tion provisions included in local wellness policies, and districts also are 
increasingly enacting strong provisions that require and/or are aligned with 
national recommendations. However, provisions on physical education 
continue to vary in strength. Consistent with the absence of strong state 
laws, few districts have implemented strong policies meeting the national 
standards of at least 150 physical education minutes weekly at the elemen-
tary level and at least 225 physical education minutes weekly at the middle 
and high school levels.
As with physical education provisions, school districts have steadily 
been increasing the number of other physical activity–related provisions 
included in wellness policies. However, fewer than 10 percent of districts 
include language that ensures efforts by local schools to promote safe routes 
to school, and only one in five districts require that communities be permit-
ted to use school facilities for physical activities outside of school hours and 
prohibit withholding recess/physical education as a punishment. 
Evidence showing that strong policies are associated with increased 
physical education and/or physical activity during the school day is grow-
ing. For example, studies conducted by Barroso and colleagues (2009), 
Evenson and colleagues (2009), and Kelder and colleagues (2009) show an 
increase in the number of weekly physical education minutes after the pas-
sage of state laws requiring daily physical education. However, implemen-
tation of state policies varied across the affected school districts (Evenson 
et al., 2009; Kelder et al., 2009), and some schools cited competing time 
demands as a barrier to full implementation (Evenson et al., 2009). More 
recently, Perna and colleagues (2012) examined the association between 
strong state laws and weekly physical education time using the C.L.A.S.S. 
state policy and SHPPS school-level physical education time-related mea-
sures. They found that, in states with stronger laws, 27-60 more minutes of 
physical education was provided weekly in elementary and middle schools 
compared with states with weak or no laws. However, they found no differ-
ences in weekly physical education minutes in high schools regardless of the 
stringency of state laws. In another study using the C.L.A.S.S. state policy 
data, Carlson and colleagues (2013) examined the association between the 
strength of state laws and the level of implementation, monitoring, and 
enforcement at the school level by interviewing state-level physical educa-
tion coordinators. They found no policies with strong language and eight 
policies with moderate or weak language. They also found that none of the 

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Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Educating the Student Body: Taking Physical Activity and Physical Education to School
84