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Physical Education
Rhode Island General Law 16-22-4 Instruction in health and physical
education states:“All children in grades one through twelve (12) attending public schools, or any other schools managed and controlled by the state, shall receive in those schools instruction in health and physical education under rules and regulations the department of elementary and secondary education may prescribe or approve during periods which shall average at least twenty (20) minutes in each school day.
No private school or private instruction shall be approved by any school committee for the purposes of chapter 19 of this title as substantially equivalent to that required by law of a child attending a public school in the same city and/or town unless instruction in health and physical education similar to that required in public schools shall be given.”
PARENTS
BELIEVE PHYSICAL ACTIVITY KEY
TO
PREVENTING CHILDHOOD OBESITY
WASHINGTON,
DC, April 29, 2003 – Amid growing concerns about escalating childhood obesity
rates and the rise of Type II diabetes, many parents see daily physical activity
as key to optimal health and academic success reports a new opinion survey
released today by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE).
Nearly all parents (95%) think regular, daily physical activity helps children
do better academically.
Importance
of Physical Education
·
Three in four parents
(76%) think more school physical education could help control or prevent
childhood obesity.
·
The vast majority (95%)
think physical education should be part of a school curriculum
for all students in grades K-12.
·
More than half (at least
54%) believe physical education is as important, or more important than
academics such as math, science and English.
“In the last 20 years the proportion of overweight children between
ages 6 and 19 has tripled to nearly one of every three kids,” said NASPE
President George Graham, Ph.D., professor at The Pennsylvania State University.
“A large reason for this is our children’s lack of physical activity
is a national crisis. Physically inactive, overweight children grow up to become
physically inactive, obese adults.
“If parents see physical activity as a key to helping children do
better academically and that physical education could help solve the obesity
problem, then families, schools, and communities need to create more
opportunities for children to have physical education and be more physically
active,” Graham added. “For
our children to be healthier, we must act now!
We can’t delay any longer action to support daily physical activity
education.”
For over 50% of parents, the lack of physical activity and sedentary activities were chosen as the most important causes for the rise of childhood obesity. Forty-six percent of parents chose eating habits as the main cause.
NASPE Executive Director Judith C. Young, Ph.D., said “In many school districts physical education is being cut back to provide more time to prepare for standardized testing in academic areas. This survey shows that parents think optimal health is most important (44%) for their children, followed by having friends/getting along with peers (20%), and academic success (16%) well behind as an important priority.”
Asked to identify the keys to a healthy lifestyle for children, the most frequent responses were a balanced diet (54%) and daily or regular activity (53%). Parents believe their children should average about 75 minutes of physical activity per day. A majority of parents say they do one or more of the following things to get their child to be more active:
· Provide outdoor/indoor physical activity access at home
· Participate with them
· Plan family activities that include physical activity
· Register children for physical activity programs
· Remind them.
Most parents (73%) think parents and school officials should work together to make decisions about what students eat and drink at school. Most parents do not think five hours of nutrition education a year is enough, and expressed willingness to pay higher taxes to provide physical education and nutrition education classes. Nearly all parents (93%) think partnerships between local schools and businesses can be important sources for financial support for schools.
The survey, which was conducted by Opinion Research Corporation International of Princeton, NJ, is based on interviews with a nationally representative sample of 2,038 adults (18 years of age and older, 50% male/50% female, 573 parents). The margin of error for the adult sample is + or – 3 percentage points; when broken into subgroups (those with children in the household) the margin of error is + or – 6 percentage points. The margin of error for the teen sample is + or – 4 percentage points. All interviewing was done from April 3 -7, 2003.
Information about the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) can be found on the Internet at www.aahperd.org , the web site of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation & Dance (AAHPERD). NASPE is the largest of AAHPERD’s six national associations. A nonprofit membership organization of over 18,000 professionals in the fitness and physical activity fields, NASPE is the only national association dedicated to strengthening basic knowledge about sport and physical education among professionals and the general public. Putting that knowledge into action in schools and communities across the nation is critical to improved academic performance, social reform and the health of individuals.
This
survey was funded with an unrestricted research grant from the
National Soft Drink Association
A Survey Conducted by Opinion Research Corporation International of Princeton, NJ,
for the National
Association for Sport and Physical Education
Introduction
The
Centers for Disease Control now estimates that more than 60 percent of American
adults are overweight, while almost one out of three is obese. In the last 20
years, the proportion of overweight children between ages 6 and 19 has tripled,
to nearly one of every three kids. In December, 2001, Surgeon General David
Satcher stated that 300,000 deaths per year are
The National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE),
a nonprofit education association of over 18,000 professionals in the fitness
and physical activity fields, wanted to explore the beliefs and attitudes about
the causes and preventions of obesity with adults and parents. Here are
highlights of those results. NASPE is the only national association dedicated to
strengthening basic knowledge about sport and physical activity among
professionals and the general public. Putting
that knowledge into action in schools and communities across the nation is
critical to improved academic performance, social reform and the health of
individuals.
CHILDREN’S
HEALTH
Most/Least
Important for Children
¨
Given three choices and
asked which one they think is most important for their children, the largest
number of parents with children living in their household who are younger than
18 think optimal health is most important (44%), with having friends/getting
along with peers (20%) and academic success (16%) well behind.
Nearly two in ten parents (18%) volunteered that all three were equally
important.
·
Optimal health is the top
choice of parents across the board.
·
Less-educated parents rate
health less important than parents who have a college education.
¨
Asked which of the three
choices they believe is least important for their children, 40% of parents
choose having friends/getting along with peers, with 28% choosing academic
success and only 13% optimal health.
Worries
about Childhood Obesity
¨
Only about three in ten
parents (28%) say they worry that their children are or might become overweight
or obese.
Explanations
for Rise in Childhood Obesity
¨
Parents were given five
factors and asked to rank how important each was in the doubling of the number
of overweight and obese children in the last 20 years.
Over 50% of parents chose lack of physical activity or sedentary
activities as the most important cause for the rise of childhood obesity.
This included 29% lack of adequate physical activity outside of school,
17% too much TV viewing, 4% lack of school physical education programs and 2%
computer time.
¨
46% of parents chose
eating habits as the main cause.
Parental
Responsibility
¨
Parents were asked how
responsible they believe they are for their children’s weight and physical
fitness at various ages. Nearly all
parents (91%) think they have a great deal of responsibility for the weight and
physical fitness of children under six, while perceived responsibility drops for
older children. Eight in ten (80%)
think parents have a great deal of responsibility for their 6-11 year olds
weight and physical fitness, and only 43% think they do for children 12-17; for
those two age groups, more parents think they have partial responsibility,
rather than a great deal of responsibility.
Keys
to a Healthy Lifestyle
¨
Asked to identify the keys
to a healthy lifestyle for children, by far the most frequent responses are a
balanced diet (54%) and daily or regular activity (52%).
¨
12% think restricting
snacks like chips, candy and soft drinks is important to a healthy lifestyle for
children.
·
A
balanced diet and daily or regular activity are the top answers of parents
across the board.
·
Physical
Education classes are mentioned most by parents 45-54 years old (17%).
Helping
Children Be More Active
¨
A majority of parents say
they do one or more of the following things to get their child to be active or
more active:
·
Provide outdoor/indoor
physical activity access at home (86%)
·
Participate
with them (83%)
·
Plan
family activities that include physical activity (80%)
·
Register
them for physical activity programs (70%)
·
Remind
them (63%)
·
Older
parents (35+) are more likely to register their children for physical activity
programs (78%) than younger ones (58%). Parents
in urban areas are more likely than those in rural areas to do so as well (73%
vs. 63%). Parents in the
most-affluent and best-educated households are also most likely to register
their children for physical activity programs.
Strategies
for Balanced Diets
¨
Parents use a number of
strategies to get their children to eat balanced diets:
·
Cook or prepare nutritious
meals (92%)
·
Talk
to them about food choices (77%)
·
Serve
as a role model by eating a healthy, balanced diet (76%)
·
Restrict
high caloric foods and beverages from their home (50%)
§
Middle-aged parents
(35-54) are most likely to talk to their children about food choices (82%).
§
Better-educated
and more-affluent parents are also more likely to say they serve as role models
for their children by eating healthy, balanced diets.
Daily
Physical Activity
¨
Parents believe their
children should average about 75 minutes of physical activity per day.
·
There is little difference
in the amount of time by demographic subgroups.
CHILDREN’S
HEALTH AND SCHOOLS
Making
Decisions about What Students Eat and Drink at School
·
Most parents (73%) think
parents and school officials together should make decisions about what students
eat and drink at school.
¨
Well
behind are parents who believe state governments (16%), parents alone (16%), the
federal government (12%), students (10%), school officials alone (10%) or
community watchdog organizations (9%) should make those decisions.
Physical
Activity and Academics
¨
Nearly all parents (95%)
think regular, daily physical activity helps children do better academically;
only 3% disagree. More than nine in
ten parents in all demographic subgroups agree.
Physical
Education as Part of Curriculum for K-12
¨
The vast majority of
parents of children under 18 (95%) think physical education should be part of a
school curriculum for all students in grades K-12.
Once again, more than nine in ten parents in all subgroups agree.
Importance
of Physical Education Compared with Other Subjects
¨
Parents were asked to rate
the importance of Physical Education compared with other subjects.
For all subjects, more than half think Physical Education is at least
equal in importance. The results
are little different among the most-affluent and best-educated parents.
·
Eighty-four percent of
parents think Physical Education is at least as important as Art; 29%
think it is more important.
·
More
than eight in ten (82%) think Physical Education is at least equal in importance
to Music; 27% think it is more important.
·
Nearly
three in four parents (72%) think Physical Education is at least as important as
a foreign language; 29% think it is more important.
·
More
than seven in ten (72%) think Physical Education is at least equal in importance
as computers; 22% think it is more important.
·
Six
in ten parents (61%) think Physical Education is at least equal in importance to
Science; 11% think it is more important.
·
More
than half of parents (56%) think Physical Education is at least as important as Math;
11% think it is more important.
·
More
than half (54%) think Physical Education is at least as important as English;
10% think it is more important.
Physical
Education Helping to Control or Prevent Childhood Obesity
¨
Three in four parents
(76%) think more school Physical Education could help control or prevent
childhood obesity; only 23% disagree.
Nutrition
Education
·
Large majorities of
parents in all areas and subgroups do not think five hours of nutrition
education a year is enough.
¨
More than half of parents
think students should spend as much time on nutrition education as they do on
electives such as Health Education (74%), Physical Education (67%), Art (60%)
and Music (59%).
Paying
for Physical and Nutrition Education
¨
Two in three parents (67%)
say they would be willing to pay higher taxes to provide Physical and Nutrition
Education classes.
¨
Nearly all parents (93%)
think partnerships between local schools and businesses can be important sources
for financial support for schools.
Testing
¨
Parents are only slightly
less likely to think their child should be tested regularly in school on their
fitness status (78%) and health screening, such as immunizations (86%), as think
they should be academically tested (92%). Significant
majorities of parents across the board believe their children should have
regular fitness testing and health screenings in school.
Survey
Methodology
The
survey, which was conducted by Opinion Research Corporation International of
Princeton, NJ, is based on interviews with a nationally representative sample of
2,038 adults (18 years of age and older, 50% male/50% female, 573 parents),
living in private households in the continental United States.
The margin of error for the adult sample is + or – 3 percentage points;
when broken into subgroups (those with children in the household) the margin of
error is + or – 6 percentage points. The
margin of error for the teen sample is + or – 4 percentage points.
All information was collected between April 3-7, 2003.
ORC
uses the state of the art systems, sampling procedures and data analysis
available for conducting survey research and adheres to the Code of Standards of
the Council of American Survey Research Organizations.
"State Study Proves Physically Fit Kids Perform Better Academically"
Academic Achievement and Physical Fitness
Physical Education Teachers
Opportunity
Knocks!
(3
credits worth)
STRATEGIES
FOR TEACHING ABOUT SEXUALITY AND HIV PREVENTION (HED 580)
*This course was designed for high school and middle school PE
teachers teaching health for the first time*
Monday
6:00 – 8:50 pm
Rhode
Island College
Learn to develop
standards-based projects, assessments and rubrics to use with current and future
health education students!
Teachers who
successfully complete the course with at least a C grade are eligible for a $325
reimbursement on your tuition.
Applicants
will be selected based on urgency of need (i.e. lack of experience and/or
professional development in teaching health and currently teaching health in a
Rhode Island high or middle school). If
the course enrollment is not filled, other applicants will be considered based
on the quality of the response to the application questions. To receive an application form email Lucille Minuto at
lucillem@doh.state.ri.us .
QUESTIONS?
Call or email Tracy Caravella-Nadeau, the course teacher, at 456-9685 or tcaravella@ric.edu
Rhode Island Grassroots Advocates,
In our second week, we have collected 20 out of 117 returned pledges from the Rhode Island General Assembly. This is a great start - particularly since the holidays and the start of the legislative session occurred over the past few weeks. This means we only have 97 remaining members and newly inaugurated Governor Carcieri left to pledge their commitment to the American Heart Association this legislative session. If you have yet to respond to the advocacy alert, please do so by viewing the Legislative Action Center , or by reading the message below.
If you are a constituent of the following legislators who have their "Heart on the Hill", please feel free to send a note thanking them in joining our fight against heart disease and stroke:
Governor Donald L.
Carcieri (R-East Greenwich)
Rep. Paul E. Moura (D-2, Providence/East Providence)
Rep. Joanne M. Giannini (D-7, Providence)
Rep. Leon Tejada (D-11, Providence)
Rep. Charlene Lima (D-14, Cranston)
Rep. Arthur Handy (D-18, Cranston)
Rep. Peter T. Ginaitt (D-22, Warwick)
Rep. Joseph McNamara (D-19, Cranston/Warwick)
Rep. Joseph Trillo (R-24, Warwick)
Rep. Victor G. Moffitt (R-28, Coventry)
Rep. John P. Shanley (D-35, South Kingstown)
Rep. Peter L. Lewiss (D-37, Westerly)
Rep. Carol Mumford (R-41, Cranston/Scituate)
Rep. Joseph J. Voccola (D-43, Johnston)
Rep. Peter John Petrarca (D-44, Smithfield/Lincoln)
Rep. Rene R. Menard (D-45, Lincoln)
Rep. William J. McManus (I-46, Lincoln)
Rep. Richard A. Aubin (D-47, Burriville)
Rep. Donald O. Reilly Jr. (D-52, Cumberland)
Rep. Elaine A. Coderre (D-60, Pawtucket)
Rep. Henry C. Rose (D-63, East Providence)
Rep. John A. Savage (R-65, East Providence)
Rep. Susan A. Story (R-66, Barrington)
Rep. Jan Malik (D-67, Warren/Barrington)
Rep. R.E. Gallison Jr. (D-69, Bristol)
Rep. Maxine Bradford Shavers (D-73, Newport)
Sen. Rhoda E. Perry (D-1, Providence)
Sen. Frank A. Ciccone III (D-3, Providence)
Sen. D.J. Ruggerio (D-6, Providence)
Sen. William V. Irons (D-8, East Providence)
Sen. David E. Bates (R-9, Barrington)
Sen. Walter S. Felag Jr. (D-10, Warren)
Sen. Mary A. Parella (R-11, Portsmouth/Bristol)
Sen. June E. Gibbs (R-12, Little Compton/Middletown)
Sen. M. Teresa Paiva-Weed (D-13, Newport/Jamestown)
Sen. John F. McBurney, III (D-15, Pawtucket)
Sen. Michael Damiani (D-18, East Providence)
Sen. John J. Tassoni Jr. (D-22, Smithfield)
Sen. Paul W. Fogarty (D-23, Glocester)
Sen. Leo R. Blais (R-24, Scituate/Coventry)
Sen. Joseph M. Polisena (D-25, Johnston)
Sen. Beatrice A. Lanzi (D-26, Cranston)
Sen. Hanna M. Gallo (D-27, Cranston)
Sen. Elizabeth H. Roberts (D-28, Cranston)
Sen. William A. Walaska (D-30, Warwick)
Sen. Stephen D. Alves (D-32, West Warwick)
Sen. L.P. Raptakis (D-33, Coventry)
Sen. V. Susan Sosnowski (D-37, South Kingstown)
"Fitness on the Hill" will take place on Thursday, May 8, 2003, from 2:00 to 4:00. For more information please contact Cheryl Bayuk.
Your P.E. Teacher Was Right!
Physical education teachers have always been vocal supporters of the benefits of regular physical activity. Unfortunately, we don’t always listen to them and the results have been disastrous. Sixty percent of American adults are either overweight or obese, and one out of every 14 has diabetes—up 49 percent since 1990. What’s even more disturbing is that the number of overweight children has doubled in the past two decades, creating a generation at risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and other serious health problems.
Why are so many American kids overweight? An important reason is lack of regular physical activity. According to a survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last year, fewer than one in 10 schools nationwide provides daily P.E. or its equivalent (150 minutes per week for elementary school and 225 minutes per week for middle and high schools) for students in all grades throughout the school year. In fact, only about half of all elementary schools surveyed require students to take P.E. In addition, 30 percent of elementary schools don’t have regular recess periods. Add to this the fact that the average child spends hours of time after school and on weekends watching TV or playing video games and you get a pretty good idea of why so many children are overweight.
How do you reverse these trends and get kids to be more physically active? One way would be to modify your school P.E. program by substituting more active games, like soccer, for less active ones, such as softball. If children must play a less active game, change the rules so that the players get more exercise. For example, in softball have the whole team run the bases together whenever a player gets a hit.
A common objection to P.E. is that it takes time away from academic subjects. However, a recent review conducted by the Task Force on Community Preventive Services (www.TheCommunityGuide.org) found that P.E. classes did not harm academic performance. In fact, according to a joint report by the U.S. Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services, physical activity programs can help young people develop skills important to academic performance, such as self-discipline, teamwork, and leadership. Participation in physical activity also increases adolescents’ self-esteem and decreases their anxiety and stress.
By improving school P.E. classes and making them a part of every student’s schedule, we can help our kids be more physically active, establish healthy habits for life, lower their risk of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and other chronic diseases, and give them a healthier future.
Of course, your physical education teacher knew this all along!
Julie Magri, M.D., M.P.H.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Atlanta, Georgia
Benefits of Vigorous Physical Activity Through Physical Education*
*The above information was taken from the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE)
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