The Physical Activity Environment and Academic Achievement in Massachusetts Schoolchildren

Abstract

A beneficial relationship exists between a high-PAE and test scores among LIS children, suggesting that the PAE may be associated with a more supportive environment and may be more fundamentally important for lower-income students.

Physical Activity Opportunities and Academic Outcomes of Fourth Grade Elementary School Students in Georgia

“…However, student fitness, measured by the proportion of students in the aerobic capacity Healthy Fitness Zone, was significantly associated with standardized test scores. Although, the effect estimate was smaller than shown in other studies, schools with a higher proportion of physically fit students had higher mean CRCT math and reading scores, which is consistent with previous research . Because the results indicate that physical fitness is associated with higher test scores and the amount of time of physical activity opportunity did not significantly affect results, perhaps what is most important is that children are actually being physically active during PE and recess, rather than giving them more time of physical activity opportunity.…”

“…Finally, this study has a very rich data set, which captures many school level demographic characteristics, such as percent of students on FRL, school size, geographic category, sex, race, and FitnessGram data. Previous studies have assessed SES, sex, or race, but none have assessed school size or geographic category. Knowing the impact of school size and geographic region on both time of physical activity opportunities at school and academic achievement would be helpful when developing interventions so they can be tailored to specific populations or settings.…”

“…The United states ranked 30th in mathematics literacy and 20th in reading literacy among 65 countries and education systems included in the Program for International Student Assessment . Academic achievement, which has been positively associated with physical activity in elementary school children, has also been studied greatly in recent years. In elementary school, girls academically outperform boys, Caucasian students outperform Black students, and high‐SES students outperform low‐SES students …”

“…Most of the research studies have been cross‐sectional in design, had relatively small sample sizes, and only recently (after 2010) began considering the effects of SES on the association between physical activity and academic outcomes . One such study found that among lower income schools, the physical activity environment was associated with academic achievement in math . Physical activity at school can come in many forms, including physical education, recess, and physical activity integration in the classroom.…”

“…A few statewide cross‐sectional studies have found that children who scored better on standardized physical fitness tests also performed better on standardized academic tests . While a few of these studies considered SES and sex in their analyses, only 3 considered race/ethnicity and none considered geographic region of the school (urban, suburban, or rural) or size of school as potential confounding variables. These studies utilized a standardized fitness test, FitnessGram®.…”