Erin E. Centeio

VII. THE HISTORY OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE RESEARCH: INFORMING THE FUTURE

The study of physical activity, physical fitness, and academic performance research are reviewed from a historical perspective, by providing an overview of existing publications focused on children and adolescents. Using rigorous inclusion criteria, the studies were quantified and qualified using both meta-analytic and descriptive evaluations analyses, first by time-period and then as an overall summary, particularly focusing on secular trends and future directions. This review is timely because the body of literature is growing exponentially, resulting in the emergence of new terminology, methodologies, and identification of mediating and moderating factors. Implications and recommendations for future research are summarized.

Physical literacy and Comprehensive School Physical Activity Programs

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this paper is to make a case for Comprehensive School Physical Activity Program (CSPAP) to be the organizational framework for providing physical activity opportunities for children that is most likely to result in physical literacy. METHOD Beginning in 2010, the authors used multiple search engines to ascertain the existent literature surrounding physical literacy and physical activity interventions to identify common approaches to providing physically activity in and around school. Grounded in the Health Belief Model and the idea that physical literacy is a desired outcome of physical education, publications focused on each of the components of the CSPAP were synthesized to describe evidence-based practice. RESULTS There is adequate evidence to suggest that quality physical education, before/after school, during school, staff involvement, and family and community engagement can serve as logical points of intervention to provide increased opportunities for physical activity participation leading to physical literacy among children. CONCLUSIONS Since only 6% of all children participate in daily physical education classes and only six states offer K-12 physical education, the implementation of CSPAP may be the most logical avenue for providing greater opportunities for physical activity engagement that fosters physical literacy as a health-oriented educational goal.

The Director of Physical Activity and Staff Involvement.

JOPERD • Volume 83 No. 7 • September 2012 S chool leaders, faculty and staff, parents, and other key individuals need to be invested in the Comprehensive School Physical Activity Program (CSPAP) in order for the program to be effective. Faculty and staff involvement begins with the Director of Physical Activity (DPA) motivating them to “buy in” to the need for a CSPAP. The DPA will need to train staff to develop and integrate physical activity throughout the school day, encourage them to be involved in the beforeand after-school activities, and create opportunities for faculty and staff to participate in activities themselves. In turn, faculty and staff should serve as effective role models in promoting physical activity and nutrition. The purpose of this article is to help the DPA in planning for and delivering the staff-oriented approaches of the CSPAP model. Because of the emphasis that classroom teachers are asked to place on core academic subject areas and academic achievement, in addition to other responsibilities, classroom teachers may not promote or offer opportunities to be physically active. It is important for the DPA to acknowledge these pressures and minimize the burden related to the delivery of physical activity. The DPA can provide professional development, activity ideas, and tactics for managing physical activity opportunities. Further, the DPA can encourage faculty and staff to participate in wellness endeavors that simultaneously improve personal health and model healthful behaviors for students. This is especially important since research demonstrates that teachers who engage in physical activity remain on the job longer and are less likely to experience burnout (Carson, Baumgartner, Matthews, & Tsouloupas, 2010). Finally, and perhaps most significant, the DPA can make an impact by convincing classroom teachers of the need for a CSPAP. For example, the DPA can inform teachers of the research linking physical activity to overall health, academic performance, the ability to concentrate in the classroom, and decreased behavioral problems among students. A limited amount of research has been conducted with teachers and worksite health promotion. However, research has shown that worksite wellness programs in other professions can improve employee job satisfaction, lower absenteeism, promote a sense of community, and improve healthful behaviors and long-term health (Chapman, 2004a, 2004b; Koffman et al., 2005; Merrill, Aldana, Ellrodt, Orsi, & Grelle-Laramee, 2009; Racette et al., 2009). Carson and colleagues (2010) determined that teachers in early childcare programs who participated in physical activity during the school day experienced positive effects related to teacher burnout. This supports the notion that teachers should be physically active during the day, not just during their leisure time outside of school or work. Research also demonstrates that physical activity is the most advantageous strategy for coping with and reducing stress (Austin, Shah, & Muncer, 2005). Therefore, it is believed that “professionals who adopt a physically active lifestyle will lead longer and happier careers” (National Association for Sport and Physical Education [NASPE], 2010, p. 3). Accordingly, this article discusses various approaches to involve faculty and staff by presenting opportunities for physical activity participation across the school curriculum. The Director of Physical Activity and Staff Involvement

Preparing Educators to Promote and Provide Physical Activity in Schools

Today, children are at risk for disease stemming from the prevalence of sedentary behaviors. Schools are largely obesogenic environments but have the potential to promote and provide opportunities to meet the recommended daily minutes of physical activity. Yet educators must be prepared to do so. The objective of this review was to examine the strength of evidence from studies on professional development effectiveness in order to make recommendations on how to structure such experiences to prepare teachers to promote and provide physical activity in schools. Effective strategies for professional development that were confirmed in the literature focused on knowledge of subject matter, collective and collaborative participation, continual and long in duration, coherence with student learning, active learning, and the building of a community of practice. Further, research to examine the effectiveness of professional development on student physical activity participation within the school environment is warranted.

Best Practices and Recommendations for Increasing Physical Activity in Youth

Many efforts to increase the physical activity levels of Americans have been introduced and implemented over the past 20 years. National Physical Activity Guidelines have been established, and the National Physical Activity Plan (NPAP) is now in place, which includes a specific sector dedicated to education. This article addresses the Education Sector of the NPAP and its seven strategies for implementation, as well as an overview of the Comprehensive School Physical Activity Program model (CSPAP). Included in this discussion is evidence supporting components of CSPAP, including physical education, in-school physical activity, out-of-school physical activity, staff involvement, and family and community engagement. This article also describes how physical and health educators, university programs, coaches and youth program directors, and higher education faculty can collaborate in implementing and sustaining school-based physical activity efforts.

The role and impact of student leadership on participants in a healthy eating and physical activity programme

Objective: In the USA there are rising rates of obesity among children, at least in part due to unhealthy eating and physical inactivity. Implementing school-based health interventions with elementary school children focused on youth empowerment could lead to improved health environments and behaviours. The purpose of the present study was to examine elementary students’ perceptions of participating in a student-led school health improvement team. Empowerment theory guided the research, specifically the concept of including participants in programming to identify possible individual-level outcomes. Design: Qualitative research. Setting: One US elementary school formed a student-led school health improvement team, focusing on healthy eating and physical activity, comprising nine students and two adult co-advisers. Methods: Data collection included 19 individual interviews with students and advisers and four non-participant observations of team meetings and reform initiatives. To ensure the perceptions of the research participants’ guided data analysis, analytic induction was undertaken using grounded theory. Results: Students and advisers shared similar perceptions that the student-led health reform process had a significant impact on several areas of students’ life skills and health behaviours. Specifically, they identified improved leadership skills (assuming responsibility, self-confidence in public speaking and pride in becoming healthy role models) and health behaviours (dietary intake and physical activity) as outcomes of their emerging identities as health reform leaders. Conclusion: This study documented previously identified psychological empowerment outcomes, such as perceived control and proactive health behaviours, and additional positive outcomes, such as peer modelling. The findings suggest that team membership may positively impact on young people, which could support the inclusion of students as leaders in future interventions.

Why inner-city high-school students attend after-school physical activity clubs

Objective: The population of young people most vulnerable to low levels of physical activity (e.g. urban/minority/low socio-economic status/female/non-athletes) often has the least access to physical activity opportunities and resources. It has been suggested that a comprehensive, school-based approach, including prudent use of time before, during and after the school day may be an effective way to increase overall physical activity, but little is known about why urban students voluntarily participate in these extracurricular programmes. Using social cognitive theory as a framework, this study examines urban high-school students’ rationale for attending after-school physical activity clubs designed to provide fun, safe, supportive places to do physical activities with friends. Design and setting: Qualitative study in an urban school district. Method: Over a 2-year period, adult leaders within 14 inner-city schools in a large urban district in the Midwest USA held 938 physical activity club sessions targeting traditionally inactive youth to promote non-competitive physical activity. Interviews with student participants (n = 278) and researcher field observations (n = 115) were used as primary data sources. Results: Three primary themes emerged to explain the voluntary participation of high-school students in after-school physical activity clubs: (a) social affiliation, especially group identification and establishing relationships with adult leaders and likeminded peers; (b) health and performance, including improving physical health and performance in other athletic endeavours; and (c) the ‘right’ types of activities and focus, including those that were student-centred, non-competitive and culturally relevant. Conclusion: Creation and sustainability of successful inner-city physical activity clubs will largely hinge upon the capitalisation on an understanding of the motivations of an urban student population.

School-University Partnership: The Wizard, the Warrior, and the Wagoner.

JOPERD • Volume 83 No. 9 • November/December 2012 G iven the current financial constraints on educational institutions, pressure has increased for both teachers and teacher educators to seek external funding to support program advancement. One such funding source is the Carol M. White Physical Education for Progress (PEP) grants, which annually, with some exceptions, provide opportunities for schools to apply for money targeting physical education programs as a means of initiating, expanding, or enhancing the quality of the learning experience for students. Priority is given to proposals dedicated to providing professional development for teachers, for equipment, and support for K-12 students enrolled in physical education. In the fall of 2007, one Midwest high school received a PEP grant to implement a supplemental curriculum entitled Active + Healthy = Forever Fit, with the help of a local university. Because a large number of key players were willing to accept and carry out specific roles, this example of a school-university partnership was highly functional. The purpose of this article is to provide insight into the development and establishment of the roles within a school-university partnership charged with creating educational reform. Specific details will be provided about three key change agents (the Wizard, Warrior, and Wagoner) who collectively facilitated attainment of the goals of a PEP grant focused on curriculum and behavior change in one high school. Moreover, this article provides insight into fostering the roles necessary for a successful schooluniversity partnership resulting in a restructured physical education curriculum tailored to meet the needs of today’s students.

Implementing Comprehensive School Physical Activity Programs: A Wayne State University Case Study

Comprehensive school physical activity programs (CSPAPs) have been highlighted by numerous public health and education agencies for their potential to improve the health and academic achievement of American youth. A CSPAP integrates physical activity throughout the school environment before, during and after school by engaging educators, children, families and community organizations. As the design, implementation and evaluation of effective CSPAP programs has inched forward, so has the call for physical education teacher education (PETE) programs to prepare the next generation of physical educators with the skills and knowledge needed to one day lead CSPAP efforts in K-12 schools. The purpose of this article is to showcase efforts in the PETE program at Wayne State University (WSU) to embed CSPAP training into the preparation of future teachers. The WSU PETE program is in the middle of programmatic reform to integrate CSPAP content and professional experiences in three ways. First, CSPAP training is integrated into many existing courses, from content instruction to methods, using lectures, discussion and various assignments. Second, PETE students are required to engage in the CSPAP research projects being conducted by the WSU Center for School Health. Third, PETE majors are required to be certified as physical activity leaders (PALs). Together, these three CSPAP training approaches allow PETE students to learn CSPAP through traditional university-based strategies, view schools in the midst of CSPAP reform initiatives, and graduate with national-level certification as PALs.

A moderated mediation analysis of children’s physical activity enjoyment

Grounded in expectancy value theory (EVT), a moderated mediation model predicting children’s physical activity (PA) enjoyment was tested. Ability beliefs and subjective task value were initially investigated as mediating the relationship between social support from friends and PA enjoyment. It was hypothesized that children play an active role in this socialization process with support seeking self-efficacy moderating the mediated relationships. Findings revealed PA social support from friends and PA enjoyment was mediated by PA ability beliefs, but this mediated relationship was conditional on children having average-to-high levels of support seeking self-efficacy. The mediated relationship between PA social support from friends and PA enjoyment through subjective task value was not moderated by support seeking self-efficacy. Results support the importance of instilling confidence in children to seek out PA support in order to maximize opportunities for PA enjoyment and suggest pathways may be more complex than originally posited in EVT.