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Development of Recommendations
The committee’s approach to developing its recommendations was 
informed by the systems approach and guiding principles outlined above. A 
consensus process was used to develop and review the overarching recom-
mendations presented in Chapter 8. In addition, committee members dis-
cussed areas for research that, if pursued, would advance the field of physi-
cal activity and physical education in schools to further the evidence base.
OVERVIEW OF THE REPORT
The remainder of this report is organized into seven chapters. Chapter 2 
describes the status and trends of physical activity behaviors and related 
school policies. Chapters 3 and 4, respectively, describe health and develop-
ment outcomes and academic and cognitive outcomes associated with physi-
cal activity and physical education. Chapter 5 provides an overview and 
discussion of physical education programs and policies in schools, including 
what a quality program looks like. Chapter 6 presents an overview and 
discussion of physical activity programs and policies in schools. Chapter 7 
summarizes the evidence for the effectiveness of physical activity and physi-
cal education programs and policies. Finally, Chapter 8 provides the com-
mittee’s recommendations. Appendix A is a glossary of acronyms and terms 
used in the report, Appendix B provides a detailed description of the study’s 
methodology, Appendix C provides a summary of data extracted from the 

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Educating the Student Body: Taking Physical Activity and Physical Education to School
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