Exercise: a prescription for at-risk students; "Take two laps and call me in the morning." Well, not exactly, but research has found that exercise can improve both behavior and academic performance.

Publication: JOPERD--The Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance

Publication Date: 01-NOV-04

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COPYRIGHT 2004 American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD)

School systems often schedule reading and math labs for underachieving students, and teachers commonly isolate misbehaving students in time-out sessions. These traditional interventions are not the only means of addressing these problems, however. Exercise labs provide another viable intervention that makes better student behavior and greater academic achievement more probable. Research has linked exercise with dramatic improvements in behavioral compliance (e.g., Dwyer, Coonan, Leitch, Hetzel, Baghurst, 1983; Wendt 2000), as well as modest improvements in academic performance (e.g., California Department of Education, 2002; Dwyer, Sallis, Blizzard, Lazarus, Dean, 2001). In contrast to a time-out intervention, which follows the occurrence of a student infraction, a "time-in" exercise lab would precede any infractions and, it is hoped, reduce the probability that they would occur.

The case for an exercise intervention rests on more than theory. Wilson Central School District, in Wilson, New York, uses exercise labs for at-risk students who are considered likely to benefit from exercise intervention. At-risk students are selected based on the following description by Hixson and Tinzmann (1990): "Students who are performing poorly, or failing in school, are at risk because they have not been able to successfully take advantage of the 'regular' school program, and will likely fall further behind or drop out" (p. 2). An exercise intervention model also offers an additional option to school personnel, parents, and students who are designing an Individual Education Plan (IEP), "a legal document that requires that a local school district meet the unique needs of both the student with a disability and his or her parents" (Houston-Wilson & Lieberman, 1999, p. 60). Thus, the Wilson model points to additional directions that physical education programs can follow in the future. Ideally, egalitarian exercise programs offered to all students would benefit at-risk students without adding to the stigma that often follows "special" treatment programs.

Mind-Body Connection

The use of exercise as an intervention for at-risk students has a sound theoretical basis in the connection between the mind and the body. The physiological origins of the mind-body connection have been documented in a number of ways (e.g., Blakemore, 2003; Putnam, 2001; Ratey, 2001). Intense exercise (along with appropriate nutrition) not only improves behavior, it promotes the growth of the body's neuronal infrastructure (e.g., Blakemore, 2003; Ratey, 2001). Furthermore, the body-mass index has an inverse correlation with academic achievement (Dwyer et al., 2001). Therefore, intense exercise may have long-term positive consequences that affect future academic achievement as well as current behavior.

From a practical standpoint, research...

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