Cdc Physical Education

Additionally, the CDC recommends that students are engaged in physical activity that incorporates moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) at least 50 percent of PE. class time (Surapibooncha, Furney, Reardon, Eldridge, & Murray, n.d., p. 128). Similarly, the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, recommend that children and adolescents participate in at least 60 minutes of physical activity, including 50 minutes of MVPA daily (Surapibooncha, Furney, Reardon, Eldridge, & Murray, n.d.), and involving muscle-and bone –strengthening exercises to attain health benefits (Leavitt, 2008). MVPA has been shown to have positive benefits on health that has been associated with improved cardiovascular endurance, increased muscular and

This requirement was reestablished in 1995 as part of the California Assessment of Academic Achievement Act, and in 1996, the SBE designated FITNESSGRAM® as the required physical fitness test (California Department of Education, 2013) a component included in the physical education program. In 2007, the California legislature (Senate Bills 78 and 601) passed a law that took effect in 2009 (Education Code Section 60800) requiring all California students to pass five of six physical fitness tests (PFTs) or “face the possibility of repeating physical education class until they passed or they graduated” (Peaceful Playgrounds, n.d., para. 5 ). The California State Board of Education designated the FITNESSGRAM® by the Cooper Institute and NFL Play60 as PFTs; along with the adoption of the Healthy Fitness Zones (HFZs) standards set for the body max index (BMI) and aerobic capacity testing. The FITNESSGRAM® is part of the state-mandated categorical program monitoring process that is required to be administered to all California public pupils in grades 5, 7, and 9 during the testing window, February through May. California school districts are required to present information to the School Accountability Report Card, which provides data about a school’s student achievement, environment, resources, and demographics (Education Code sections 33126 and

“Obese children are more likely to be ill, be absent from school due to illness, experience health –related limitations and require more medical care than normal weight children” (Public Health England, 2015, para. 1). As observed by Schwimmer et al. (2003), obese children are more likely to experience sick days than their non-overweight peers. These children also are more likely to miss class or be tardy, thus affecting their school performance (Datar & Sturm, 2006). According to Gary Foster, director of the Center for Obesity Research and Education at Temple University in Philadelphia, a relationship exists between student weight and school attendance. Foster and his colleagues from the University of Pennsylvania examined 1,069 fourth, fifth, and sixth grades in nine inner-city Philadelphia elementary schools and found that the obese children were absent significantly more than normal-weight children, missing an average of 12 school days during the school year (Geier, Foster, & Womble et al.,