American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance - AAHPERD

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Let's Move in School
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Physical Activity Before and After School

Physical activity before and after school provides opportunities for all students, including those with disabilities, to practice what they've learned in physical education, work towards the nationally recommended 60+ minutes of daily moderate-vigorous physical activity, and prepare the brain for learning. Additional benefits include social interaction and engagement of students in safe, supervised activities.

Opportunities include:

  • Walk and bike to school and implementation of a comprehensive Safe Routes to School program
  • Informal recreation or play on school grounds
  • Physical activity in school-based child-care
  • Physical activity clubs and intramural sports
  • Interscholastic sports 
Alignment with National Public Health Campaigns  
National Physical Activity Plan
  • Provide access to and opportunities for high-quality, comprehensive physical activity programs, anchored by physical education, in Pre-kindergarten through grade 12 educational settings.  Ensure that the programs are physically active, inclusive, safe, and developmentally and culturally appropriate.
  • Develop and implement state and school district policies requiring school accountability for the quality and quantity of physical education and physical activity programs.
  • Provide access to and opportunities for physical activity before and after school.
  • Expand "Safe Routes" initiatives at national, state, county and local levels to enable safe walking and biking routes to a variety of destinations, especially to schools.
  • Develop partnerships with other sectors for the purpose of linking youth with physical activity opportunities in schools and communities.  

 

White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity Report to the President 

  • State and local education agencies should be encouraged to provide opportunities in and outside of school for students at increased risk for physical inactivity, including children with  disabilities, children with asthma and other chronic diseases, and girls.
  • Federal, state, and local educational agencies, in partnership with communities and businesses, should work to support programs to extend the school day, including afterschool programs, which offer and enhance physical activity opportunities in their programs.
  • State and local education agencies should be encouraged to support interscholastic sports and help decrease prohibitive costs of sports by curbing practices such as "pay-to-play," working with other public and private sector partners.
  • The Federal Safe Routes to School Program (SRTS) should be continued and enhanced to accommodate the growing interest in implementing Safe Routes to Schools plans in communities.  
  • The Environmental Protection Agency should assist school districts that may be interested in siting guidelines for new schools that consider the promotion of physical activity, including whether students will be able to walk or bike to school.
  • "Active transport" should be encouraged between homes, schools, and community destinations for afterschool activities, including to and from parks, libraries, transit, bus stops, and recreation centers.
  • Local governments should be encouraged to enter into joint use agreements to increase children's access to community sites for indoor and outdoor recreation.

 

Healthy People 2020 Objectives

  • Increase the proportion of trips made by walking.   
  • Increase the proportion of trips made by bicycling.  
  • Increase the proportion of children who are ready for school in all five domains of healthy development: physical development, social-emotional development, approaches to learning, language, and cognitive development.
  • Increase the number of states with licensing regulations for physical activity provided in child care.
  • Increase the proportion of adolescents who participate in extracurricular and out-of-school activities.
  • Increase the proportion of the Nation's public and private schools that provide access to their physical activity spaces and facilities for all persons outside of normal school hours (that is, before and after the school day, on weekends, and during summer and other vacations).
Expert Organizations/Agencies/Websites
 

*Also see organizations listed for the "Community Involvement" component

National Standards and Guidelines
Practical Resources