Three-quarters of American public elementary schools offer physical education more than one day a week, and 8 out of 10 have daily recess, according to a report released today by the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) in the Institute of Education Sciences (IES).

But the report, Calories In, Calories Out: Food and Exercise in Public Elementary Schools, 2005, also found that 7 percent of these schools have no daily recess. Fifteen percent sell candy at school, and 29 percent do not weigh students. The study, prompted by concern over the rate of obesity among school-age children, was designed to obtain current national information on the availability of food and opportunities for physical activity in public elementary schools.

"Making sure children understand the importance of eating right and being active is critical to helping them lead healthy lives," said U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings. "I'm pleased that this is a priority in a lot of our schools and we must continue to provide students with the information they need to make good choices when it comes to food and exercise."

The report includes findings on the types of food sold in schools and in their cafeterias or lunchrooms; the types of food dispensed by vending machines and school stores or snack bars, and the times when foods are available at those locations; food service operations and contracts with companies to sell food at schools; the amount of scheduled recess and physical education; and the extent to which schools measure students' height and weight and calculate body mass index.

Other highlights of the report:

• In 2005, schools offered both healthy and less nutritious foods for sale outside of full school meals, although a higher proportion of the schools offered nutritious than less nutritious items. For example, schools were more likely to offer 100-percent juice (53 percent), bottled water (46 percent), and green salad or fruit (40 percent) than less nutritious items such as french fried potatoes (17 percent).

• Fifteen percent of public elementary schools sold candy at one or more locations in the school, and 5 percent sold candy in the cafeteria or lunchroom. In addition, 9 percent of the schools sold soft drinks and about 5 percent sold snack foods at vending machines.

• Fifteen percent of public elementary schools had school store or snack bar foods available to students during mealtimes, and 11 percent had foods available at school stores or snack bars at other times during the school day.

• Almost all public elementary schools (94 percent) offered foods for sale outside of full school meals. Of these schools, 36 percent indicated that the foods were sold to generate funds to support food service operations at the school or district.

  • Schools were more likely to report the availability of foods in the school stores or snack bars at mealtimes if foods were sold to generate funds than if the foods were not sold for this purpose.
  • Almost a quarter (23 percent) of public elementary schools indicated that one or more companies had a contract to sell drinks or snack foods at the school.

• Most public elementary schools reported daily recess, with the proportion of schools reporting this schedule ranging from 83 to 88 percent across elementary grades. The average number of minutes per day of scheduled recess ranged from 27.8 for first grade to 23.8 for sixth grade.

• While almost all public elementary schools (99 percent) reported that they scheduled physical education for elementary grades, the proportion of schools that provided daily physical education ranged from 17 to 22 percent across elementary grades.

• At least half of all elementary schools scheduled physical education one or two days a week.

• Fifty-one percent of public elementary schools offered school-sponsored before- or after-school activities that emphasize exercise, such as walking or running, sports, dance, or group games.

The full text of Calories In, Calories Out: Food and Exercise in Public Elementary Schools, 2005 is available online at http://nces.ed.gov/Pubs2006/nutrition/. A copy of the report can be ordered by calling toll free 1-877-4ED-Pubs (1-877-433-7827) (TTY/TDD 1-877-576-7734); via e-mail at edpubs@inet.ed.gov; or via the Internet at http://www.ed.gov/pubs/edpubs.html.

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