This document has been formatted for printing from your browser from the Web site of the Illinois Association of School Boards.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE -- This document is © copyrighted by the Illinois Association of School Boards. IASB hereby grants to school districts and other Internet users the right to download, print and reproduce this document provided that (a) the Illinois Association of School Boards is noted as publisher and copyright holder of the document and (b) any reproductions of this document are disseminated without charge and not used for any commercial purpose.

Illinois School Board Journal
September/October 2004

Making fitness count

by Melea Smith

Melea Smith, APR, is Director of Communications at Naperville CUSD 203 and a member of the Illinois chapter of the National School Public Relations Association.

In the midst of national discussion about the alarming rise in childhood obesity, including hot debates over the contents of school vending machines and the quality of school lunches - both important topics, one fact remains: physical fitness is as much about daily activity levels as it is about caloric intake. To get fit and stay fit, even thin people need exercise.

People in the United States have become fixated on calorie, fat and carb counts. Yet, experts report that, over the last decade, the average American has increased caloric intake by 1 percent, but reduced activity levels by 15 percent.

California studies in 2002 linked high academic performance to daily physical activity. While Illinois ranks an abysmal 46th in the nation for educational funding, it is the sole remaining state to require four years of physical education at the secondary level. This just may be a key to success for students seeking higher test scores, as well as for educators working to meet No Child Left Behind mandates.

Promoting an approach known as the "New PE," Naperville CUSD 203 serves as a laboratory site for PE4LIFE, a Washington, D.C.-based, non-profit organization promoting daily physical activity in America's schools. Over the last two years, District 203 has hosted visitors from 26 states, as well as China, Mexico and Germany. Educators from Australia, Turkey, Taiwan and Chinese Taipei also have asked for help in re-thinking their PE programs. PE4LIFE calculates that the direct impact of these visits exceeds 500,000 students.

"It's phenomenal the things they are doing here," Chris Greathouse said, during a recent two-day visit. As the PE department head for Black Forest Academy in Kandern, Germany, Greathouse says he now has "the vision to take our program to a higher level, for the sake of our kids. I am impressed by the focus on health and wellness I've seen here."

How can a school district with a PE budget of $2 per student per year at the high school level, $1 at the junior high level and 50 cents at the elementary level achieve this level of success?

"It's a total paradigm shift," says Phil Lawler, a Madison Junior High School physical education teacher, the former PE coordinator for District 203 and co-founder of the program. Lawler now serves as a national spokesman for PE4LIFE. Gone are dodge ball and students being picked last for a team. Treadmills, exercise bikes and climbing walls that even adaptive PE students learn to traverse replace painful junior high and high school experiences.

"It is a belief system that underpins our curriculum and a tool which supports us, as well as promoting wellness nationwide," explains Associate Superintendent Lenore Johnson.

The "New PE," featured in Newsweek, Time, USA Today and as the centerpiece of a PBS documentary, hasn't attracted national attention by applying for waivers or offering summer school opt-out courses. Instead, it has excelled in the creation of partnerships with parent organizations, the business community, service clubs and the local hospital, to fund the latest in exercise technology. While many are sacrificing physical education in lieu of increased "core curriculum," District 203's numbers indicate it's not just coincidence that this academically high-performing school district delivers daily, quality physical education to its 19,000 students.

"What sets us apart is the data we collect, showing that we are, in fact, making a difference," says Paul Zientarski, also a co-founder of the program and PE Instructional Coordinator at Naperville Central High School. NCHS tracks student fitness levels twice a year over their four high school years.

Statistics on district ninth-graders indicate that a remarkable 97.1 percent are in the healthy fitness zone, according to child obesity norms, based on body composition testing. These norms were established by Dr. Ken Cooper, known as the "father of aerobics" and founder of the Cooper Institute in Dallas, Texas. By comparison, California's figures were 67 percent of students in the healthy range.

"Even more startling, in California only 48 percent of kids met the healthy standard for cardiovascular conditioning (based on the mile run), while ours were at 80 percent," notes Zientarski. "The 2002 study correlated that the more fit the kids were, the better they performed academically. It's a part of why our students do as well as they do - it's a total mind, total body educational approach."

Lawler and Zientarski suggest that schools seeking to change their approach to fitness should begin by using heart monitors.

"Thanks to a partnership with Edward Hospital and its leading cardiologist, Dr. Vincent Bufalino, we were able to begin monitoring students' heart rates. It changed our perception of exercise," Lawler says.

"I found out that the kid trailing last in the mile run might actually be working the hardest. This technology also allowed students to become a partner in their own physical fitness."

"You have to empower kids by giving them the freedom to choose, while making them aware of what healthy choices are," Zientarski says. "We're able to maintain our academic integrity and challenge our students in their PE classes, by offering a wide variety - from rock climbing to our high-ropes leadership course.

"It's not our job to make students be fit, but rather to provide them with the information and lead them to an awareness of the value and importance of taking care of themselves," Zientarski says. "We don't practice the traditional sports approach, but rather urge individual goal setting. It's more of a fitness club mentality, promoting individualized programs and offering students the chance to take themselves as high as they can.

"We strive for an end result of imparting an intrinsic desire to be fit, along with the knowledge of how to accomplish that ... something they can then carry with them throughout their lives," Zientarski concludes.