Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Educating the Student Body: Taking Physical Activity and Physical Education to School
20
Educating the Student Body
on hygiene, gymnastics, performance in sports and games, and (later)
military readiness (IOM, 2012). A focus on physical
education for health
and fitness subsequently emerged, gradually taking hold in the middle of
the 20th century (IOM, 1997). Quality school physical education has been
recommended as an evidence-based strategy to increase physical activ-
ity among youth (Task Force on Community Preventive Services, 2005).
Physical education thus has a long history of being a central foundation for
health, development, and learning in schools.
Despite the effectiveness of quality physical education (whereby stu-
dents have an opportunity to learn meaningful content with appropriate
instruction and assessments) in increasing physical activity, challenges exist
to its equitable and effective delivery. Fiscal pressures, resulting in teacher
layoffs or reassignments and a lack of
equipment and other resources, can
inhibit the offering of quality physical education in some schools and dis-
tricts. Schools may lack trained physical educators, and safety issues are
associated with allowing children to play. Educators and policy makers
may lack awareness and understanding of the potential for physical activity
to improve academic achievement and the many ways in which physical
activity can be and has been successfully incorporated into the school
environment. The role of school physical education in providing physical
activity for youth is further challenged by a demand for better standardized
test scores by increasing classroom academic time and the ensuing policy
pressures to do so. Nearly half of school administrators
report cutting sig-
nificant amounts of time from physical education, art, music, and recess
to increase time in reading and mathematics since passage of the No Child
Left Behind Act in 2001. These challenges have been cited as reasons why
the percentage of schools offering physical education daily or at least 3 days
each week declined dramatically in U.S. schools between 2000 and 2006
(GAO, 2012).
Children and adolescents engage in different types and patterns of
physical activity as the result of a variety of factors, including age and
access to resources. Exercise capacity in children and the activities in which
they can successfully engage change in a predictable way across develop-
mental periods. Young children are active in short bursts of free play, and
their capacity for continuous activity increases as they grow and mature.
In adults and likely also adolescents, improved
complex motor skills allow
for more continuous physical activity, although intermittent exercise offers
much the same benefit as continuous exercise when the type of activity
and energy expenditure are the same. While the health benefits of sporadic
physical activity at younger ages are not well established, children require
frequent opportunities for practice to develop the skills and confidence that
promote ongoing engagement in physical activity. Physical education curri-
cula are structured to provide developmentally appropriate experiences that
Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Educating the Student Body: Taking Physical Activity and Physical Education to School
Introduction
21
build the motor skills and self-efficacy that underlie lifelong participation in
health-enhancing physical activity, and trained physical education special-
ists are uniquely qualified to deliver them.
In the best-possible scenario, however, physical education classes are
likely to provide only 10-20 minutes of vigorous- or moderate-intensity
physical activity per session. Physical education, then, although important,
cannot be the sole source of the at least 60 minutes per day of vigorous- or
moderate-intensity physical activity recommended to enhance the health of
children and adolescents. Other ways to promote physical activity in youth
must be systematically exploited to provide physical activity opportuni-
ties. Family, neighborhood, and community programs can be a source of
such additional opportunities. Moreover, other
school-based opportunities,
including intramural and extramural sports programs, active transport to
and from school, classroom physical activity breaks, recess, and before- and
after-school programming, all can help youth accumulate the recommended
60 or more minutes per day of physical activity. Recent policy guidance
from the National Association of State Boards of Education suggests such
an integrated approach (NASBE, 2012).
Although family and community settings are helpful, schools provide
a unique framework for physical activity opportunities
because of the tre-
mendous opportunity to contact many students multiple times. According
to estimates of the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 51 million children aged
5-17 were enrolled in U.S. public schools in 2010; an additional 5.5 mil-
lion were enrolled in U.S. private schools. Thus, an estimated 96-98 percent
of the entire population in this age group was enrolled in an institutional
school. Youth spend up to 7 hours each school day in school. Moreover,
recent figures suggest that 15 percent of students across all grades attend
an after-school program, and 38 percent of parents whose children do not
attend such a program say their children would do so if they had access
(Afterschool
Alliance, 2009). These data, together with the role of schools
in health promotion for youth, suggest that more can be done to leverage
schools to help children meet the recommendation for at least 60 minutes
per day of physical activity.
STUDY APPROACH
The committee recognized that, although physical education and
physical activity in the school setting are primarily the responsibility of
the education system, schools alone cannot implement the changes across
systems required to achieve a healthy and educated future generation.
Accomplishing these changes will demand systems
approaches influenced
by the social and cultural, economic, and physical environments, as well as
the drivers of local, state, and national policies (see Figure 1-1).
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Educating the Student Body: Taking Physical Activity and Physical Education to School
22
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