Many school districts recognize that their students need to increase their physical activity and improve their nutrition, but they lack the resources to help students acquire the knowledge, attitudes, and skills they need to enjoy fit and healthy lives.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Carol M. White Physical Education Program (PEP) assists local educational agencies and community-based organizations by providing grants to initiate, expand, or improve their physical education (PE) programs.

Administered by the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools (OSDFS), the program supports high quality, research-based approaches to physical education, involving such efforts as teacher training, curriculum development, nutrition education, and fitness assessment.

This year, OSDFS awarded a total of 237 new PEP grants worth nearly $69 million. While these new grantees are just getting started, others have been using PEP funds to improve their PE programs for the past few years. Across the country, school districts and organizations report that these funds have made a lifelong difference for the students involved.

Redwood Falls, Minnesota

In Minnesota, Independent School District #2897 created a wellness program to teach students to monitor their personal fitness and align the program with state and national PE standards.

Using PEP grant funds, the district purchased new technology to help students develop their own personal fitness plans. The technology included TriFIT hardware and software, hand-held computers for PE instructors, heart monitors, and pedometers.

Students in grades 4-10 were taught how to track their fitness progress by collecting data from their pedometers and heart rate monitors and entering it into personal Health Risk Appraisals. Rather than compete against each other, the students learned to improve and maintain their own personal fitness levels.

Middle school PE teacher Polly Bowen, who oversaw the program, observed that parents were particularly pleased with the fitness reports they received at home. “The response was wonderful,” she said. “Parents would call us and say, ‘This helps us understand what we should be doing, not only for our children, but also for ourselves.’”

The district also purchased fun and challenging new equipment, including cross country skis and an indoor climbing wall.

According to Bowen, the skis in particular were a great hit with the students, many of whom had never skied before. “At first the students were sliding everywhere, but by the next fall their improvement was tremendous. They could jump on their skis and go!”

As a result of the program:

• 75 percent of the middle school students reported that outside of PE class they engage in fitness activities at least three to five times per week, for at least 30 minutes.
• 53 percent of the middle school students reported that using the new technology helped them to better understand the importance of being physically fit.
• 53 percent of the middle school students reported that they think they have enough knowledge to implement a fitness plan
  five years later.

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