Brain Research May Save PE

Brain Research May Save PE

 

For the last several years, the childhood obesity crisis has caused discussion about bring back more PE into our schools. The childhood obesity crisis has caused a large amount of discussion but most school administrators have found reasons to fight against the return of physical education. It would cost too much, we don’t have enough time in the school day to add more PE, and we just don’t have the space. The excuses are countless, but the bottom line, educational leaders just don’t value PE enough to make PE and educational priority.

 

The bottom line is, schools are not funded based on the health of their students, and schools are not evaluated based on the health of their students. The bottom line, NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND is driving all educational decisions today. 99% of educational leaders see no link between physical education and test scores.

 

Good News, this is all about to change. Dr Ratey has a new book coming out in January, called SPARK. The book will contain all the latest scientific research that proves physical activity has a major impact on the brain and learning.

 

Our (PE4life) Academy in Naperville has been involved in a 3 year pilot program working with Dr Ratey from Harvard. The program is called Learning Readiness PE. The first year pilot was so successful, it was expanded year two. The first year our focus was on improving reading scores. The pilot worked with freshman below grade level in reading. In one semester we improved their reading scores a half a grade level. The third year of the pilot program, we included math, and we had the same results. This year the head of our math department is presenting at the national math conference, his topic, how PE can improve math scores.

 

Our entire school is being impact by Learning Readiness PE, including our administration. Last fall, our high school did an experiment during the week of our state standardized test.

 

State Standardized Testing week is sacred to administrators. The school, the administration, and even the entire community will be evaluated and rated by these test scores. In the past, students were told to get a good night sleep, eat a good breakfast, and be fully prepared to do their best on the test. The school is always put on a special schedule during test week. Usually testing last for about 4 hours each day, and students then go to shorten schedules of their core courses during the week (math, science, and literacy). Typically PE did not meet during testing week. PE teacher were scheduled to be test monitors.

 

Last fall our school’s state testing schedule changed. Each morning we had 3000 students walking the hall ways to fast beat music for 30 minutes before the students went to their testing stations. Weeks before testing, every classroom teacher went through extensive “brain research” training. All teachers were trained to lead students in brain researched physical activity between tests.

This fall when our school received their state test scores, we recorded the highest results in school history.

 

Many of our academic teachers are now integrating physical activity into their daily lesson plans. Brain research is changing our school culture. Physical Education is becoming the “hub” of the educational wheel instead of a spare tire to be used only in an emergency.

 

I promise this will not be the last blog on brain research.