Bookmark & Share

Favorites	Google
Digg	Del.icio.us
Twitter	Facebook

>> More...

A recent study by the Texas Education Agency suggests that students who are more physically fit are also more likely to do well on tests and have fewer disciplinary problems at school, the Dallas Morning News reports. To determine how physical activity influences academic performance, researchers compared the scores of 2.4 million public school students in grades three through 12 on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills with performance on FITNESSGRAM, a physical fitness test developed by the Cooper Institute of Dallas. The FITNESSGRAM evaluates child fitness levels based on measures of body composition, aerobic capacity, muscular strength, endurance and flexibility. Children who were more physically fit achieved higher standardized test scores than students who were not physically fit. Moreover, schools with a higher percentage of fit students earned better state performance ratings than those with a lower percentage of fit students. The report also finds that students who were physically fit posted higher attendance rates than students who were not fit. Reflecting on the findings, Sen. Jane Nelson (R-Flower Mound) said that they “provide yet another incentive to reverse the health trends we are seeing among our youth.†According to the Dallas Morning News, Sen. Nelson is sponsoring legislation this year to increase physical education requirements for Texas students in middle school (Stutz, Dallas Morning News, 3/10/09; Texas Education Agency release, 3/9/09). (Editor’s Note: The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has provided support for the collection and management of FITNESSGRAM data on child fitness levels in Texas, as well as analysis of school factors that contribute to children’s fitness and BMI levels.)