Public disclosure to improve physical education in an urban school district: results from a 2-year quasi-experimental study

Details

• Alternative Title:
  J Sch Health
• Personal Author:
  Thompson, Hannah R. ; Vittinghoff, Eric ; Linchey, Jennifer K. ; Madsen, Kristine A.
• Description:
  BACKGROUND ; Many elementary schools have policies requiring a minimum amount of physical education (PE). However, few schools comply with local/state PE policy and little is known about how to improve adherence. We evaluated changes in PE among 5th-grade classes, following participatory action research efforts to improve PE quantity and policy compliance that focused on publically disclosing PE data. ; METHODS ; Data were collected at 20 San Francisco public elementary schools in the spring of 2011 and 2013. PE schedules were collected and PE classes were directly observed (2011, N = 30 teachers; 2013, N = 33 teachers). Data on the proportion of schools meeting state PE mandates in 2011 were shared within the school district and disclosed to the general public in 2012. ; RESULTS ; From 2011 to 2013, PE increased by 11 minutes/week based on teachers’ schedules (95% CI: 3.0, 19.6) and by 14 minutes/week (95% CI: 1.9, 26.0) based on observations. The proportion of schools meeting the state PE mandate increased from 20% to 30% (p = .27). ; CONCLUSIONS ; Positive changes in PE were seen over a 2-year period following the public disclosure of data that highlighted poor PE policy compliance. Public disclosure could be a method for ensuring greater PE policy adherence.
• Subjects:
  • Article
  • physical education
  • policy compliance
  • public disclosure
  • physical activity
  • Child
  • Community-Based Participatory Research
  • Disclosure
  • Humans
  • Physical Education and Training
  More +
• Source:
  J Sch Health. 85(9):604-610.
• Pubmed ID:
  26201757
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC4515774
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  #UL1 RR024131/RR/NCRR NIH HHS/United States ; 1U58DP001488-01/DP/NCCDPHP CDC HHS/United States ; KL2 RR024130/RR/NCRR NIH HHS/United States
• Volume:
  85
• Issue:
  9
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/34504/cdc_34504_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 141.85 KB]
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:3e04473aee77fd311f468181cdca7adec17ce660c1adccae05a322f082e24fea