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FIGURE 2-9 
Minutes per day of vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical activity gained by 
implementing school-based policies.
NOTE: PE = physical education.
SOURCE: Bassett et al., 2013.
Figure 2-9.eps
0
5
10
15
20
25
Mandatory
PE
Standardized
PE Curricula
Modified
Recess
Classroom
Activity
Walk/Bike 
to School
After-School
Programs
Minutes per Da
y

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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
 
59
programs strive, among other things, to devote at least 50 percent of 
physical education time to vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical 
activity.
•
Programs that enable and encourage more vigorous- or moderate-
intensity physical activity during recess by providing age-appropriate 
equipment, blacktop games, and/or adult encouragement and super-
vision can add another 5 minutes. 
•
Inserting vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical activity into the 
classroom by incorporating physical activity into the lesson or by 
providing specific activity breaks can add about 19 minutes per day 
above the usual time.
•
Walking or biking to school compared with being driven can add 
about 16 minutes of vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical activ-
ity to the school day.
•
After-school activity programs can add another 10 minutes of 
vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical activity per school day.
Despite evidence that policies and programs can increase vigorous- 
or moderate-intensity physical activity among children and adolescents 
on school days, only rough estimates are available, at best, of students’ 
baseline physical activity behaviors at school and during school-related 
activities. Therefore, only rough estimates can be made of the volume of 
vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical activity that is being and could be 
achieved.
Physical Education
Children in elementary and middle school spend about 10-40 per-
cent of their time in physical education classes engaged in vigorous- or 
moderate-intensity physical activity (Simons-Morton et al., 1993, 1994; 
McKenzie et al., 1996; Sallis et al., 1997; Belsky et al., 2003; McKenzie 
et al., 2006). On average they have two physical education class periods 
per week, each for about 30 minutes (Belsky et al., 2003). Assuming that 
35 percent of physical education time is spent in vigorous- or moderate- 
intensity physical activity, children spend an average of 4 minutes per 
school day doing
vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical activity in 
physical education classes (see Table 2-1). If elementary school students had 
30 minutes of physical education daily (150 minutes per week) and middle 
school students had 45 minutes of physical education daily (225 minutes 
per week), the estimated number of minutes per day spent doing vigorous- 
or moderate-intensity physical activity during physical education would 
increase to 11 minutes and 16 minutes, respectively. If the proportion of 
time in vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical activity during physical 

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Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Educating the Student Body: Taking Physical Activity and Physical Education to School
60