May 17, 2006 -- Calories In, Calories Out: A Report on Food and Exercise in Public Elementary Schools

Noting that one way to address obesity among school-age children is to emphasize an “energy balance” approach—calories in, calories out—the National Center for Education Statistics in the U.S. Department of Education in 2005 surveyed a statistically representative sample of public elementary schools to see what foods are available outside of full school meals, the opportunities students have to engage in physical activity, and whether schools measure the height, weight, or body mass index (BMI) of students. Some of the survey findings:

• 88 percent of public elementary schools offered both healthy and less nutritious foods for sale outside of full school meals at one or more locations in the school, with many offering the food in the cafeteria or lunchroom;
• 22 percent of elementary schools offered at least one nondairy beverage or snack food in vending machines and 31 percent sold the food at snack bars or school stores. In schools with vending machines, 33 percent had vending machine food available during mealtimes;
• Across elementary grades, 7 percent to 13 percent of schools had no scheduled recess;
• 99 percent of elementary schools reported that they scheduled physical education, but only between 17 percent and 22 percent of schools said physical education was offered daily, with an average of 2.4 to 2.6 times per week;
• 64 percent of schools said they used nontraditional physical education such as dance or kick-boxing to make physical education enjoyable, and at least half used other types of programs during or outside the school day to encourage physical activity;
• Two-thirds of schools never calculated students’ body mass index in 2005 and 28 percent never measured students’ weight;
• Of public elementary schools that measured students’ height or weight, 39 percent sent this information to parents, and 49 percent of schools that measured BMI sent that information to parents.

An executive summary and the full text of the report, “Calories In, Calories Out: Food and Exercise in Public Elementary Schools,” are available online at http://nces.ed.gov.