Childhood Overweight: What the Research Tells Us Physical Activity and Schools Current physical activity levels. A 2002 national survey reports 38.5% of children aged 9-13 participated in organized physical activity and 77.4% of children engaged in free-time physical activity during non-school hours.49 Organized physical activity appears less accessible to some groups of children. Hispanic (25.9%) and non-Hispanic black (24.1%) children were significantly less likely to participate in organized physical activity compared to non-Hispanic white children (46.6%). Children of parents with lower incomes and educational levels were less like-ly to participate in organized physical activity. However, nearly three-quarters of all groups participated in some level of free-time physical activity.49 Physical education and recess. 71.4% of elementary schools provided “regularly scheduled recess” for kindergarten through 5th grade. Nationally, 96.8% of elemen-tary schools, and the same percentage of middle or junior high schools, require stu-dents to take physical education.50 Over half (51.7%) of US students in grades 9-12 were enrolled in a physical education (PE) class and one-third (32.2%) of them had daily PE. Black male stu-dents (67.4%) were significantly more likely than white male students (52%) to be enrolled in a PE class. Of the enrolled students, 83.4% reported exer-cising at least 20 minutes during an average class. Overall, male students (87.7%) were significantly more likely than female students (78.8%) to have exer-cised >20 minutes during an average PE class.51 About half (49%) of all schools reported offering intramural activities or physical activity clubs for students.52 Physical education standards and guidelines. More than half (60.8%) of the states require schools and school districts to follow national or state physical education guidelines while nearly a quarter of the states encourage schools and school districts to follow national or state guidelines.52 According to the CDC survey, 84.0% of elementary, 77.4% of middle/junior high, and 79.5% of senior high schools follow national or state physical education standards or guidelines.50 More than 80% of the states and nearly three-quarters of school districts required schools to provide adapted physical education, to include physical education in indi-vidualized education plans (IEPs), and to mainstream students into regular physical education, as appropriate.52 Next: Schools Can Help |
