Role of School-Based Physical Activity on Academic Performance of Elementary School Children

University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston: University of Texas Prevention Research Center

Topics:
Nutrition & Physical Activity for Youth | School Health

In the first part of this project, researchers are investigating the effects of having implemented the Coordinated Approach To Child Health (CATCH), a school health and physical education program, on academic performance. Two statewide standardized test scores—the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS™) and Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS™)—are being analyzed for students from about 3,000 Texas elementary schools that implemented CATCH from 1999–2004. The second part of the project will examine the effect CATCH has on students’ Stanford 10 standardized test scores by comparing them with scores from four schools with good CATCH implementation and four schools without CATCH. About 960 students from 3rd and 4th grade classrooms will be recruited. Academic performance will also be measured through attendance, classroom performance, teacher ratings of learning problems and study skills, teacher and student report of attention problems, depression, and hyperactivity. Children in the study will report on their attitude toward school and teachers and their self-esteem. Measures of physical activity will be fitness level and body mass index of the children. All the measures will be collected multiple times in the 2005–2006 school year and in the fall of 2006.

 

Back to Research Projects