Charlene Burgeson, Executive Director of the Active Schools, presented a National Physical Activity Society webinar on April 17, 2017 titled, “The Active Schools Movement: Strategic Plan for 2017-2020. This initiative was formally known as the Let’s Move! Active Schools, originally led by former first lady, Michelle Obama.
The purpose behind this initiative is to provide an evidence-based argument on how important it is to offer an active school environment for children and how important it is when compared to learning other subjects in the school day. Approximately 2 in 3 kids are not reaching their daily 60 minutes of physical activity, and 1 in 5 school aged kids (6-19 years) are considered obese. In efforts to combat these numbers, policy change is required.
So, why do schools insist that cuts to these programs are necessary to increase academic performance? Time? Money? What the policy makers and decision makers do not realize is that what they are doing is counter-productive. Cutting these programs will have detrimental effects on the very thing they want to improve! Michelle Obama says that we, as a nation, should try harder and come together for the future lives of our kids.
Research consistently suggests that participating in daily physical activity has numerous benefits, especially for children. Examples of benefits include increases in brain activity, grades, and performance on standardized tests, as well as decreases in wasted class time and behavior issues. Students tested better in reading, spelling, and math, and were likely to read above their grade level. These benefits help everyone, including the students, teachers, and parents, as well as administration.
Charlene presented a variety of statistics on children who had about 20 minutes of physical activity:
- 20% more likely to earn an A in math and English
- 6% increase in standardized test scores over three years
- 13% increase in student’s physical activity level for the week after 1 PA lesson
- 21% decrease in teachers’ time managing behavior issue
The program itself relies on these strategies:
- Improve supply
- Influence current teacher practices by helping teachers with time management and the confidence to do so
- Give teachers the information on how to incorporate physical activity into the classroom environment by showing the benefits (ex. increased performance and time students are on task/attentive)
- Increase demand
- Repackage and enhance evidence base
- Show parents that their children can become well-rounded
- Convince administration that attendance and grades will increase
- Communicate strategically with stakeholders/policy makers
In order to accomplish future goals of the program, it requires the assistance and involvement of various partners in a collaborative effort. CDC now funds Healthy School Programs in all 50 states in efforts to reduce childhood obesity. Approximately 23,000 K-12 school are currently enrolled in the program, which includes over 12 million students, along with 43 partnering organizations. Active Schools hopes to partner with more organizations to create a more substantial impact. Limitations include financial resources and dependent assistance from partnering organizations, as well as the current assumptions that academics should be valued more than health and alternative means of improving the learning process.
Joanna,
Interesting post. First off, I am glad to see that Let’s Move! Active Schools did not die out after the Obama’s moved out of the White House. Combating the childhood obesity numbers will take some kind of collaboration, especially with the odds stacked against us. Fast food numbers have been increasing, inactivity/sedentary lifestyles are more popular, video games and technology has kept children on the couch instead of playing outside.
With the positive benefits of daily physical activity that you mentioned, that alone should validate why it makes no sense to cut from these kinds of programs. I am a supporter, but rather new to hearing the new focus for classroom teachers to incorporate physical activity in the classroom. The improved cognitive functions show why taking breaks to move around and get your blood flowing is a good idea. This is directly applicable to the next few days while I watch webinars and read studies for blog/journal posts. I am sure that I will retain, process, and translate the information much better if I take my time and not try to get everything done in one sitting.
I wonder what partnering organizations would be good fits with this program? – Big brands like Nike, Adidas, or Under Armor would certainly help the funding limitation.
There is a need to have the appropriate value, just like for physical educators, the profession is thought to be a joke or hobby while coaching by society, health is something that takes time to see a change, so it is undervalued. Not everyone will need to know how to calculate the slope of a line, distinguish verbs from adjectives in a sentence, or know about chemicals, but every one of us needs a health heart. Health should be a primary focus, mentally and physically healthy for a solid foundation.
Fascinating topic, would love to hear about some progress in the next couple of years.