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Discrepancy between Policy and Reality
Recent data (NASPE and the AHA, 2010) show that, although many
states mandate that physical education be included in the school curricu-
lum, schools seldom adhere to specific guidelines regarding time allocation
Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Educating the Student Body: Taking Physical Activity and Physical Education to School
86
Educating the Student Body
(McCullick et al., 2012). Moreover, although elementary, middle, and high
school students report meeting the national recommendation for minutes
per week or per day of physical education, this may not be true in actual-
ity. On the school schedule, the minutes allotted for physical education
may be presented and reported, but the actual number of minutes in which
students are engaged in physical education remains undocumented. Nor is
it clear whether the time allotted for physical education was canceled or
shortened on a weekly basis because of assemblies, disciplinary actions,
or other school activities. Seldom are time allocations for physical educa-
tion enforced or are schools held accountable for policy enforcement.
Overall, policies requiring increased physical education and physical
activity at school each day have the potential to affect large numbers of
children and adolescents and are an effective strategy for promoting regular
physical activity. However, external and internal barriers to policy imple-
mentation need to be considered, as is highlighted by a recent study (Amis
et al., 2012) finding that priority given to standardized testing and varsity
sports over physical education, as well as insufficient resources and inunda-
tion with new policy requirements, serve as barriers to successful implemen-
tation of strong policies on physical activity. These findings are supported
by results of a study conducted with California school board members (Cox
et al., 2011), who cited most frequently as barriers to policy implementa-
tion a lack of adequate funding; limited time during the school day; and
competing priorities, such as core curriculum classes and standardized test-
ing. (See the discussion of these issues in Chapters 5 and 6.)
Existing evidence also shows some grade-level, racial/ethnic, and socio-
economic disparities in participation in physical education across secondary
schools (i.e., grades 8-12). Johnston and colleagues (2007) conducted a
national study of 504 middle/junior high and high schools from a repre-
sentative sample of geographic (urban/rural) and regional locations. The
overall requirement for participation in physical education was found to
drop sharply from 8th to 12th grade—87 percent in 8th grade, 47 percent
in 10th grade, and 20 percent in 12th grade. The evidence also indicates a
significant decrease in the minutes per week of physical education—from
172.3 minutes per week in 8th grade, to 163.9 minutes in 10th grade, to
88.6 minutes in 12th grade. The number of days per week on which stu-
dents in 8th, 10th, and 12th grades receive physical education also was
found to decline from 3.5 to 2.7 to 1.4 days, respectively.
From 8th to 12th grade, moreover, the percentage of students taking
physical education was found to be lower in schools attended by Hispanic
students than in those attended by white students; no significant differences
were found for African American students (Johnston et al., 2007). Johnston
and colleagues also found that schools with a greater percentage of stu-
dents of higher socioeconomic status were more likely to require students
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
87
to take physical education and actually have students take it than schools
with a greater percentage of students of lower socioeconomic status. These
findings suggest that differences do exist in the provision of physical educa-
tion across grades, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status in secondary
schools. In general, however, data on differences in the percentage of stu-
dents taking physical education by race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status
are sparse. Thus while it is important that schools closely examine and
address such disparities, there is also a need to examine these disparities
more closely.
SUMMARY
Few children in the United States, probably no more than half, meet the
guideline of at least 60 minutes of vigorous- or moderate-intensity physi-
cal activity daily. The reason this statistic cannot be more specific is that
different measurement methods yield different estimates. Some consistent
patterns can be reported, however. The proportion meeting the guideline
declines with age, with more elementary school children than middle and
high school students achieving the goal, and boys are more likely than girls
to meet the guideline regardless of whether the information is self-reported
or derived from objective measurement with accelerometers or pedometers.
There are no consistent patterns across different racial/ethnic or socio-
economic groups, although fewer data are available with which to examine
these issues. One can also say with reasonable certainty that over the past
30-40 years, probably even longer, the volume and intensity of daily physi-
cal activity among youth have gradually declined.
During about half of their waking hours, youth engage in activities
with low rates of energy expenditure—1.5 METs or less—commonly called
sedentary activities. Evidence is clear for adults and is accumulating for
children that shifting time spent in sedentary activities to even light-intensi-
ty physical activity is beneficial from a health perspective.
Remarkably little information exists about the physical activity
behaviors of students during school hours or in school-related activities.
Even the nation’s best public health surveillance systems do not obtain that
information. Aside from a few good one-time surveys of physical activity
during physical education classes, little information is available on students’
physical activity during the school day or in after-school programs. This
lack of information is surprising given that school-related physical activ-
ity must be a large component of the overall volume of physical activity
among youth and that vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical activity is
vital to students’ healthy growth and development and is associated with
improved academic performance and classroom behavior (see Chapters 3
and 4). Substantial evidence exists that the volume of student’s vigorous- or
Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Educating the Student Body: Taking Physical Activity and Physical Education to School
88
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