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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, June 23, 2005

Is 'No Child' leaving fitness behind?

Staff and News Reports

Since the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 took effect, some health officials have worried about an unintended side effect as schools struggle to meet the law's mandates that all children measure up in reading, math and other basic skills.

What Hawai'i requires

The Hawai'i Department of Education follows the national standards for physical education. Public schools require:

• 120 minutes of physical education per week in kindergarten through third grade

• 90 minutes of physical education per week in grades four through six

• 200 minutes of physical education per week in middle and high school. (However, physical education is an elective in middle school, and only one year is required for high school graduation.)

Their fear: Less and less time will be allotted for physical activity and even recess, in turn fueling the obesity epidemic in American children and teens. Some critics have taken to calling the act "No Child Left Without a Big Behind" or "No Child Let Outside."

"The risk is there," said James Sallis, a professor of psychology at San Diego State University and a proponent of physical activity in schools.

The move away from physical education runs counter to new recommendations from the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which says children should get an hour of exercise over the course of a day.

A national obesity study financed by the CDC shows that physical education has decreased at the high school level, where daily participation in physical education classes dropped from 42 percent in 1991 to 32 percent in 2001.

Experts say there are plenty of anecdotal reports of schools and districts cutting back on gym glasses to provide more time and money to focus on the act's mandates.

"If they spend time on something not on the list — math, science, reading — they will be out of business," Sallis said, referring to the penalties imposed for not meeting the mandates. The act, he added, is "treating kids like little learning machines, which they are not."

In Hawai'i, physical education at the middle school level was recently changed from a requirement to an elective, as Hawai'i schools follow a national trend of focusing on math, science, language arts and social studies.

A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Education said the agency had no formal reaction to concerns that the No Child Left Behind Act might lead to a curtailment of physical education programs in schools.

"We do have the Carol M. White Physical Education Program," said spokesman David Thomas, noting this program provides grants to local school districts to help them promote physical education programs.

The No Child Left Behind Act, called a landmark in education by advocates, is meant to improve student achievement by holding schools accountable for test results in reading and math through high school.

"We've heard examples of where PE (physical education) and recess have been cut back," said Daniel Kaufman, a spokes-man for the National Education Association, which represents 2.7 million teachers and support staff. "We're hearing, for example, of schools cutting back on PE and recess in order to make sure they have time to focus on preparing students to take standardized tests."

Even before the act went into effect, daily physical activity wasn't commonplace in many schools, according to the CDC.

A 2000 CDC study found that just 8 percent of elementary schools, 6.4 percent of middle or junior high schools, and 5.8 percent of senior high schools provided daily physical education or its equivalent for the entire school year for students in all grades.

In the same survey, the CDC said that 40 percent of high schools allowed student exemptions from required physical education courses or school sports. Often acceptable reasons to opt out of physical education include participation in vocational training, community service or a conflict with other school activities.

Staff writer Treena Shapiro contributed to this report.