11/13/2008

Fitness: The Missing Ingredient To Our Children’s Success
By: Jake Steinfeld, Chair, Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness & Sports and Pam Brady, President, California State PTA

We all know that if children are not physically active and don’t eat well, then their health will suffer. It’s becoming increasingly apparent that their academics will too.

On the health front, childhood obesity has risen dramatically in California and across the nation. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 125 million children and adolescents are overweight or obese – a number that has more than tripled since the 1980s. Hospital costs for adolescents have also more than tripled. It was reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association that chronic conditions such as obesity have resulted in 66 million restricted-activity days and 27 million days lost from school. Adding fuel to the fire is the fact that one third of our children eat fast food every day. Couple this with the decline in physical activity in schools over the last three decades, and we have a recipe for disaster.

While it only makes sense that physical education and physical activity are needed for our children to get fit, this doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s put into practice. California law requires that grades 1-6 have 200 minutes of physical education every 10 days and grades 7-12 have 400 minutes of physical education every 10 days. Yet, fewer than half of California’s school districts meet this requirement according to a study conducted by the California Center for Public Health Advocacy.

Academically, to ensure that “no child is left behind” and to increase standardized test scores, many school administrators have felt compelled to give the three R’s - reading, writing and arithmetic - greater emphasis than physical fitness. Some of these administrators even dropped physical education from their curriculum to ensure more classroom time for these subject areas. Administrators argued the need to focus on these academic areas at the expense of physical education, art and music, activities that benefit a child’s overall development. The irony is that study after study has shown that physical education plays a key role in the improvement of academic performance. By being more physically active, students are more attentive in class and have fewer discipline problems.

The Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports was revived three years ago to help increase physical fitness among school children. During its first year, 10,000 students participated in the Governor’s Challenge Competition, a contest among k-12 schools to encourage students to get active 30-60 minutes a day, 3 days a week for a month. This past year, more than 150,000 students from over 1,200 schools increased their level of physical activity by taking the Governor’s Challenge, and for their efforts they were rewarded with hundreds of thousands of dollars of fitness equipment.

Administrators from schools participating in the Governor’s Challenge Competition report positive health impacts, increased confidence and improved self-esteem among their student participants. Interestingly, these schools have begun reaping academic rewards as well. The average API scores (Academic Performance Index) of the 40 highest performing schools in the 2008 Governor’s Challenge Competition was 835 compared to 742 for schools statewide last year, and their average increase over last year was 2.2%, compared to 1.9% statewide. Just imagine the increases we would see if every school in California participated in the Governor’s Challenge Competition.

Recently, the Council launched the 2009 Governor’s Challenge Competition among k-12 schools. Not only is this healthy competition open to all California students, parents and teachers, it can be administered without taking up any class time, and it’s FREE!

But the point we’re making here is not about the Challenge, it’s about the children. Our children deserve the very best education we can offer and schools that focus too narrowly on reading, writing and arithmetic at the expense of their students’ health and fitness face unintended consequences that put a limit on our children’s success.

Physical activity is not a republican or democrat issue, it’s an issue that affects everyone, especially our children. Children are our most precious resource and if we fail them, we put the future of our state and our country in peril. We can and must do better!

About Jake Steinfeld
Jake Steinfeld is the Chairman of the Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to promoting physical activity and fitness for all Californians especially children and youth.

About Pam Brady
Pam Brady is the President of the California State Parent Teachers Association, representing nearly 1 million volunteer members.

Schools can sign up to participate in the 2009 Governor’s Challenge Competition at www.CalGovCouncil.org

Jake Steinfeld
10250 Constellation Blvd, #2700
Los Angeles, CA 90067
(310) 867-2953

Pam Brady
2327 L Street
Sacramento, CA 95816
(916) 440-1985 ex: 101