Academic and Psychosocial Outcomes of a Physical Activity Program With Fourth Graders: Variations Among Schools in Six Urban School Districts

Abstract

The purpose was to examine academic achievement, school attachment, and peer acceptance before and after a comprehensive school-based physical activity program (CSPAP) with 378 children in 12 fourth-grade classrooms across six schools in primarily low-socioeconomic status (SES) districts of a large Midwestern metropolitan area. Both personal and normative rate of academic achievement improvement metrics were used. Overall, all students showed personal math and reading growth. However, effects varied by types of achievement indicator and comparison group, revealing noteworthy school-level demographic and implementation characteristics that are inextricably intertwined with program effectiveness and student growth. Implications, especially for minimizing generalizations, are significant.

Keywords

poverty social African American students Urban Education academic achievement minority academic success elementary school programs

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. (2013). Comprehensive school physical activity programs: Helping students achieve 60 minutes of physical activity each day [Position statement]. Reston, VA: Author [This organization is presently known as SHAPE America].

Baker

J. A.

(1999). Teacher-student interaction in urban at-risk classrooms: Differential behavior, relationship quality, and student satisfaction with school. The Elementary School Journal, 100(1), 57-70.

Ballou

Sanders

Wright

(2004). Controlling for student background in value-added assessment of teachers. Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, 29(1), 37-65.

Baltes

P. B.

Reese

H. W.

Lipsitt

L. P.

(1980). Life-span developmental psychology. Annual Review of Psychology, 31, 65-110.

Biag

(2016). A descriptive analysis of school connectedness: The views of school personnel. Urban Education, 51, 32-59.

Biddle

S. J. H.

Asare

(2011). Physical activity and mental health in children and adolescents: A review of reviews. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 45(11), 886-895.

Bronfenbrenner

(1977). Toward an experimental ecology of human development. American Psychologist, 32, 513-531.

Bronfenbrenner

Morris

(1998). The ecology of developmental processes. In Damon

Lerner

(Eds.), Handbook of child psychology: Theoretical models of human development (5th ed., Vol. 1, pp. 993-1028). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley.

Bronfenbrenner

Morris

(2006). The bioecological model of human development. In Lerner

Damon

(Eds.), Handbook of child psychology: Theoretical models of human development (6th ed., Vol. 1, pp. 793-828). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley.

10.

Carey

R. L.

(2014). A cultural analysis of the achievement gap discourse: Challenging the language and labels used in the work of school reform. Urban Education, 49, 440-468.

11.

Castelli

D. M.

Centeio

E. E.

Hwang

Barcelona

J. M.

Glowacki

E. M.

Calvert

H. G.

Nicksic

H. M.

(2014). VII. The history of physical activity and academic performance research: Informing the future. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 79, 119-148. doi:10.1111/mono.12133

12.

Catalano

R. F.

Haggerty

K. P.

Oesterle

Fleming

C. B.

Hawkins

J. D.

(2004). The importance of bonding to school for healthy development: Findings from the social development research group. Journal of School Health, 74, 252-261.

13.

Centeio

E. E.

McCaugtry

Gutuskey

Garn

Somers

Shen

. . . Kulik

(2014). Physical activity change through comprehensive school physical activity programs in urban elementary schools. Journal of Teaching and Physical Education, 33, 573-591.

14.

Centeio

E. E.

Somers

C. L.

Kulik

Garn

Shen

Martin

. . . McCaughtry

. (2018). The relationship between academic achievement and healthy school transformations in urban elementary schools in the United States. Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy, 23, 402-417.

15.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2010). The association between school-based physical activity, including physical education, and academic performance. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

16.

Deary

I. J.

Strand

Smith

Fernandes

(2007). Intelligence and educational achievement. Intelligence, 35, 13-21.

17.

Deno

S. L.

(2003). Developments in curriculum-based measurement. The Journal of Special Education, 37, 184-193.

18.

Deno

S. L.

Shin

Espin

(2000). Technical adequacy of the maze task for curriculum-based measurement of reading growth. The Journal of Special Education, 34, 164-172.

19.

Donnelly

J. E.

Greene

J. L.

Gibson

C. A.

Smith

B. K.

Washburn

R. A.

Sullivan

D. K.

Williams

S. L.

(2009). Physical activity across the curriculum (PAAC): A randomized controlled trial to promote physical activity and diminish overweight and obesity in elementary school children. Preventive Medicine, 49, 336-341.

20.

Duckworth

A. L.

Seligman

M. E.

(2005). Self-discipline outdoes IQ in predicting academic performance of adolescents. Psychological Science, 16, 939-944.

21.

Eisenberg

M. E.

Neumark-Sztainer

Perry

C. L.

(2003). Peer harassment, school connectedness, and academic achievement. Journal of School Health, 73, 311-316.

22.

Fore

Burke

M. D.

Martin

(2006). Curriculum-based measurement: An emerging alternative to traditional assessment for African American children and youth. The Journal of Negro Education, 75, 16-24.

23.

Good

Jefferson

(1998). Contemporary perspectives on curriculum-based measurement validity. In Shinn

M. R.

(Ed.), Advanced applications of curriculum-based measurement. New York, NY: Guildford Press.

24.

Goodenow

Grady

K. E.

(1993). The relationship of school belonging and friends’ values to academic motivation among urban adolescent students. The Journal of Experimental Education, 62(1), 60-71.

25.

Griner

A. C.

Stewart

M. L.

(2013). Addressing the achievement gap and disproportionality through the use of culturally responsive teaching practices. Urban Education, 48, 585-621.

26.

Gunnarsdottir

Njardvik

Olafsdottir

A. S.

Craighead

L. W.

Bjarnason

(2012). Teasing and social rejection among obese children enrolling in family-based behavioural treatment: Effects on psychological adjustment and academic competencies. International Journal of Obesity, 36(1), 35-44.

27.

Hodge

S. R.

Vigo-Valentin

(2014). Health, nutrition, and physical activity. In Milner

H. R.

Lomotey

(Eds.), Handbook of urban education. New York, NY: Routledge.

28.

Katz

D. L.

(2013). Childhood obesity trends in 2013: Mind, matter, and message. Childhood Obesity, 9(1), 1-2.

29.

Keller-Margulis

M. A.

Shapiro

E. S.

Hintze

J. M.

(2008). Long-term diagnostic accuracy of curriculum-based measures in reading and mathematics. School Psychology Review, 37, 374.

30.

Kim

Mazza

Zwanziger

Henry

(2014). School and behavioral outcomes among inner city children: Five-year follow-up. Urban Education, 49, 835-856.

31.

Koretz

Louis

T. A.

Hamilton

(2004). Models for value-added modeling of teacher effects. Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, 29(1), 67-101.

32.

Marston

D. B.

(1989). A curriculum-based measurement approach to assessing academic performance: What it is and why do it. In Shinn

M. R.

(Ed.), Curriculum-based measurement: Assessing special children. New York, NY: Guilford Press.

33.

McGlinchey

M. T.

Hixson

M. D.

(2004). Using curriculum-based measurement to predict performance on state assessments in reading. School Psychology Review, 33, 193-203.

34.

Milner

H. R.

(2013). Analyzing poverty, learning, and teaching through a critical race theory lens. Review of Research in Education, 37, 1-53.

35.

Milner

H. R.

Lomotey

(2014). Introduction. In Milner

H. R.

Lomotey

(Eds.), Handbook of urban education. New York, NY: Routledge.

36.

Naglieri

J. A.

Bornstein

B. T.

(2003). Intelligence and achievement: Just how correlated are they? Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 21, 244-260.

37.

National Center on Student Progress Monitoring. (2007). What the national center on student progress monitoring can do for you. Retrieved from http://www.studentprogress.org/library/Webinars/NCSPMWebinar8-30-07.pdf

38.

Sallis

J. F.

McKenzie

T. L.

Kolody

Lewis

Marshall

Rosengard

(1999). Effects of health-related physical education on academic achievement: Project SPARK. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 70, 127-134.

39.

Sallis

J. F.

Owen

Fisher

E. B.

(2008). Ecological models of health behavior. In Glanz

Rimer

B. K.

Viswanath

(Eds.), Health behavior and health education: Theory, research, and practice (4th ed., pp. 465-485). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

40.

Sameroff

(2010). A unified theory of development: A dialectic integration of nature and nurture. Child Development, 81, 6-22.

41.

Sanders

W. L.

(1998). Value-added assessment. The School Administrator, 55(11), 24-32.

42.

Santoro

L. E.

Lutz

J. G.

Keller

M. A.

Hintze

J. M.

Shapiro

E. S.

(2006). Curriculum-based measures and performance on state assessment and standardized tests. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 24, 19-35.

43.

Shen

(2017). Physical education and academic performance in urban African American girls. Urban Education, 52, 267-283. doi:10.1177/0042085914566095

44.

Shinn

M. R.

(1998). Advanced applications of curriculum-based measurement. New York, NY: Guilford Press.

45.

Shinn

M. R.

Shinn

(2002). AIMSweb training workbook: Administration and scoring of reading maze for use in general outcome measurement. Eden Praire, MN: Edformation. Retrieved from http://www.aimsweb.com/wp-content/uploads/Maze-Manual.pdf

46.

Singh

Uijtdewilligen

Twisk

J. R.

van Mechelen

Chinapaw

M. M.

(2012). Physical activity and performance at school: A systematic review of the literature including a methodological quality assessment. Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, 166, 49-55. doi:10.1001/archpediatrics.2011.716

47.

Somers

C. L.

Gizzi

T. J.

(2001). Predicting adolescents’ risky behaviors: The influence of future orientation, school involvement, and school attachment. Adolescent & Family Health, 2(1), 3-11.

48.

Steinberg

(2014). Adolescence (10th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

49.

Stokols

(1992). Establishing and maintaining healthy environments: Toward a social ecology of health promotion. American Psychologist, 47(1), 6-22.

50.

Thurber

R. S.

Shinn

M. R.

Smolkowski

(2002). What is measured in mathematics tests? Construct validity of curriculum-based mathematics measures. School Psychology Review, 31, 498-513.

51.

Tindal

Helwig

Anderson

(2002). Using a concept-grounded, curriculum-based measure in mathematics to predict statewide test scores for middle school students with LD. The Journal of Special Education, 36, 102-112.

52.

Tolar

T. D.

Vaughn

Stuebing

K. K.

Barth

A. E.

Fletcher

J. M.

Francis

D. J.

(2012). Psychometric properties of maze tasks in middle school students. Assessment for Effective Intervention, 37, 131-146.

53.

Trudeau

Shepard

R. J.

(2008). Physical education, school physical activity, sports and academic performance. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 5, 10. doi:10.1186/1479-5868-5-10

54.

Ullucci

Howard

(2015). Pathologizing the poor: Implications for preparing teachers to work in high-poverty schools. Urban Education, 50, 170-193.

55.

Voelkl

K. E.

(1996). Measuring students’ identification with school. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 56, 760-770. doi:10.1177/0013164496056005003

56.

Wang

M. T.

Eccles

J. S.

(2012). Social support matters: Longitudinal effects of social support on three dimensions of school engagement from middle to high school. Child Development, 83, 877-895. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2012.01745.x

57.

Weber

N. M.

Somers

C. L.

Day

Baroni

B. A.

(2016). Predictors and outcomes of school attachment and school involvement in a sample of girls in residential treatment. Residential Treatment for Children and Youth, 33(2), 155-174. doi:10.1080/0886571X.2016.1188034

58.

Yeo

(2010). Predicting performance on state achievement tests using curriculum-based measurement in reading: A multilevel meta-analysis. Remedial and Special Education, 31, 412-422.