Physical Activity In/Near Schools

GOAL: To increase physical fitness and reduce childhood obesity rates by increasing the frequency, duration and intensity of physical activity in and near schools. Policy-makers can have an important impact on improving opportunities for physical activity during and after school.

1. Offer at Least 30 Minutes of Quality Physical Activity Daily

The Issues and the Research: Children and adolescents spend a good portion of their days in school, and state and local governments and school districts can help them meet the U.S. Surgeon General and the Department of Health and Human Services’ recommendations, which suggest children and adolescents should be physically active for at least 60 minutes on most days. The Task Force on Community Preventive Services recommends implementing programs that increase the length of, or activity levels in, school-based physical education classes based on strong evidence of their effectiveness in improving both physical activity levels and physical fitness among school-aged children and adolescents.¹ By increasing the required amounts of vigorous physical activity in schools, elementary and high school students in 13 studies conducted from 1983 to 1999 had consistently improved fitness levels.²

Potential Stakeholders

Policy-makers
State and local elected and appointed officials
School officials (e.g., state boards of education, local school boards
and school administrators)

Other Government and Community Stakeholders
Parks and recreation officials
County and city health officials
Nonprofit organizations such as Sports4Kids, Alliance for a Healthier Generation and Action for Healthy Kids
Teachers

Policy and Program Options

State policy-makers can consider making 30 minutes of quality daily physical activity a requirement for all schools.

Integrate physical activity throughout the school day
School officials can consider creating a comprehensive school physical activity program that includes opportunities to engage in daily physical activity, such as classroom breaks, and integrates educational components in the exercises to encourage sustainable healthy behaviors.

Health curriculum
School officials can consider integrating aspects of the health curriculum within other curricula (e.g., science, reading), so that children can learn about health throughout the day.

Joint-use agreements
Local policy-makers and school officials can develop joint-use agreements that allow community members to use recreation facilities. In turn, communities can offer facilities to schools, such as additional meeting spaces.

Staff wellness policies
School officials can adopt policies and programs that promote and support school staff wellness programs so that they set good examples for students.

Before- and after-school programs
As part of a comprehensive school physical activity program, school officials can provide before- and after-school programming that increases students’ physical activity levels.

Recess
School officials can offer regular recess that is properly supervised by trained staff to provide additional opportunities for students to engage in physical activity. Recess before lunch has been shown to improve student behavior and performance in the classroom.³ State policy-makers can implement policies and programs supporting recess as a necessary component of the school day.

Facilities and equipment
State policy-makers can ensure that there is funding available for the construction and maintenance of gymnasiums, playgrounds and fields. They can also make sure that schools have funding to supply their gymnasiums with an adequate amount of equipment for physical activity.

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2. Consider Requiring Standards-Based Physical Education Classes Taught by Certified PE Teachers

The Issues and the Research: For children in underserved communities, physical education (PE) at school may be one of the few places where it’s safe to play outdoors. Additionally, it may be the only way that they are introduced to certain sports and activities that could provide lifelong enjoyment. Unfortunately, fewer than 4 percent of elementary schools provide daily physical education or its recommended equivalent (150 minutes per week) to all students for the full school year.⁴ This trend is especially discouraging given that there also is a link between increased physical activity in schools and improved academic performance. Studies have shown that students who spend more time in PE or other school-based physical activity can improve scores on standardized achievement tests—even if the students spend less time in the classroom.⁵ For example, students in a 1999 California study who received enhanced PE received better test scores on several tests compared with other students in the control groups.⁶ In fact, 11 of 14 studies that analyzed 58,000 students’ physical activity levels and test scores from 1967–2006 confirmed a link.⁷

Potential Stakeholders

Policy-makers
State and local elected and appointed officials
School officials (e.g., state boards of education, local school boards and school administrators)

Nonprofit, advocacy organizations such as Action for Healthy Kids, the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) and the American Heart Association (AHA)
Parents and teachers

Policy and Program Options

Physical education as a core requirement
State policy-makers can consider including physical education as a core requirement in the school curriculum and set time standards (e.g., 150 minutes per week in elementary schools).

Physical education standards
State policy-makers can adopt high-quality state PE standards based on national standards (such as those from the National Association for Sport and Physical Education or American Heart Association), and local school leaders can look to both state and national standards when developing their physical education curriculum. State and local school officials can consider requiring minimum levels of regular, high-quality PE per school day. They also can ensure that students are active in at least half of the time they spend in PE.

State funding for physical education
State legislatures can increase funding to school districts so that they may provide high-quality PE classes and teachers.

Health curriculum
School officials can encourage PE teachers to work with other subject area teachers to integrate the core curriculum into their classes. For example, PE teachers can ask students to use math skills by measuring their heart rates and graphing the data.

Teacher training and development
State policy-makers can require that PE teachers are adequately prepared by adopting high quality certification standards. Schools can ensure that teachers receive ongoing professional development and support.

Skills-based activities
School officials can offer skills-based activities within the PE curriculum that go beyond competitive sports and appeal to a variety of students. This approach could help students develop life-long active behaviors and lifestyles. Some examples of non-competitive activities include yoga, tai chi and dance.

Facilities and equipment
State legislatures can ensure that there is funding available for the construction and maintenance of gymnasiums, playgrounds and fields. Schools also can equip their gymnasiums with an adequate equipment for safe physical activity.

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3. Support Walk to School and Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Programs

The Issues and the Research: The national percentage of youth ages 5 to 18 who walk or ride a bicycle to school dropped from 42 percent in 1969⁸ to only 16 percent in 2001.⁹ A growing body of research, however, has found that walking to school is associated with higher overall physical activity throughout the day.^10,11 Federal SRTS grants can be used to create safer walking and biking routes to school. For example, a SRTS program in Marin County, Calif., which included both safety improvements and encouragement to walk to school, increased the number of children walking to school by 64 percent in two years.¹² In addition, the findings from 33 studies in 2006 showed that children were more physically active when connected sidewalks provided access to destinations such as schools, but less likely to walk if they were confronted with traffic hazards and unsafe intersections.¹³

Potential Stakeholders

Policy-makers
State and local elected and appointed officials
School officials (e.g., state boards of education, local school boards and school administrators)

Other Government and Community Stakeholders
Law enforcement agencies
Local businesses
Safe Routes to School National Partnership
Local nonprofit organizations
Parents

Policy and Program Options

Safe Routes to School (SRTS)
Local government and school policy-makers can adopt a SRTS program, which includes the 5Es (evaluation, education, encouragement, enforcement and engineering). State policy-makers can apply for funding and ensure that the funding is made available to local communities in a timely manner.

Walking school buses
Local government and school policy-makers can support walking school buses—a group of children walking to school together with supervision by more than one adult, particularly along unsafe routes.

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4. Facilitate Joint-Use Agreements

The Issues and the Research: According to the Institute of Medicine, increasing opportunities for regular physical activity and supporting the efforts of families to incorporate physical activity into their lives are important strategies for reversing the childhood obesity epidemic.¹⁴ Policy-makers at the local and school district levels can increase physical activity opportunities at a low cost by entering into joint-use agreements. These agreements, typically made between municipalities and educational institutions, can allow community members to use school facilities, such as gymnasiums, when school is not in session, as well as allow students and faculty to use community facilities when they are not available in schools.

Potential Stakeholders

Policy-makers
State and local elected and appointed officials
School officials (e.g., state boards of education, local school boards and school administrators)

Other Government and Community Stakeholders
Parks and recreation officials
County and city health officials
Businesses (sports centers)
Colleges and universities
Civic organizations
Teachers

Policy and Program Options

Joint-use agreements that increase activity options
School officials can work with local government policy-makers to allow community residents to use school facilities for physical activity and students and faculty to use community facilities. For example, school officials can allow dance, yoga and martial arts instructors to use the gymnasium and other facilities for community classes before and after school.

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1 Community Guide Branch, National Center for Health Marketing, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Behavioral and Social Approaches to Increase Physical Activity: Enhanced School-based Physical Education. February 10, 2009. Available at www.thecommunityguide.org/pa/behavioral-social/schoolbased-pe.html.
2 Designing for Active Living Among Children, Research Summary. San Diego: Active Living Research, Fall 2007.
3 Bergman E, Buergel N, Englund T, et al. “Relationships of Meal and Recess Schedules to Plate Waste in Elementary Schools.” The Journal of Child Nutrition & Management, 28(2), Fall 2004.
4 “SHPPS 2006: School Health Policies and Programs Study, Overview.” Atlanta: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Available at www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/shpps/2006/factsheets/pdf/FS_Overview_SHPPS2006.pdf.
5 Physical Education, Physical Activity and Academic Performance, Research Brief. San Diego: Active Living Research, Fall 2007.
6 Sallis J, McKenzie T, Kolody B, et al. “Effects of Health-Related Physical Education on Academic Achievement: Project SPARK.” Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 70(2): 127-134, 1999.
7. Physical Education, Physical Activity and Academic Performance, Research Brief.
8. Transportation Characteristics of School Children: Report No. 4, Nationwide Personal Transportation Study. Washington: Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), July 1972.
9. National Household Travel Survey. Washington: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, 2003.
10. Alexander L, Inchley J, Todd J, et al., “The broader impact of walking to school among adolescents.” BMJonline, 331(7524): 1061, August 2005. Accessed at http://bmj.bmjjournals.com
11. Cooper A, Page A, Foster L, Qahwaji D, et al., “Commuting to school: Are children who walk more physically active?” American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 25(4): 273-6, November 2003.
12. Staunton C, Hubsmith D, and Kallins W. “Promoting Safe Walking and Biking to School: The Marin County Success Story.” American Journal of Public Health, 93(9): 1431-1434, September 2003.
13. Davison K and Lawson C. “Do Attributes in the Physical Environment Influence Children’s Physical Activity? A Review of the Literature.” International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 3(19), 2006.
14. Designing for Active Living Among Children, Research Summary. San Diego, CA: Active Living Research, Fall 2007.