Evaluation of the Carol M. White Physical Education Program: Final Report

American youths are becoming increasingly less physically active and have poor nutrition habits. Nationwide, less than one third of students reported achieving the recommended level of physical activity (one hour of exercise per day). In addition, most youths consume less than the recommended daily amounts of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. These behaviors have contributed to an increase in overweight and obese youths, making the physical fitness of America's youths a topic of national attention. In February 2010, First Lady Michelle Obama launched the "Let's Move!" initiative as a comprehensive approach to solving the challenge of youth obesity, calling on schools, healthcare professionals, faith-based and community-based organizations, elected officials from all levels of government, and private sector companies to play an active role in providing youths with information and an environment supportive of healthy lifestyles. The Carol M. White Physical Education Program (PEP) provides grants to projects led by districts and community-based organizations (CBOs) to initiate, expand, and improve physical education for students in kindergarten through grade 12. The program focuses primarily on the development of high-quality physical education programs that address state standards for physical education and develop an environment supportive of physical activity. In 2010, as part of its efforts to align relevant program objectives with the "Let's Move!" initiative, the U.S. Department of Education (the Department) revised certain aspects of PEP, its sole program focused exclusively on physical well-being. To examine how the PEP projects were being administered and implemented under the revised program regulations, the Department's Policy and Program Studies Service initiated an implementation study of projects funded by fiscal year (FY) 2010 PEP grant awards--the first cohort of grantees to implement projects under the revised PEP. This cohort consisted of 76 grantees, including 64 districts and 12 CBOs (one CBO-led project closed after its first year). This study addressed the following questions: (1) What were the results of PEP grantees' self-assessments of their physical activity, health, and nutrition policies and practices?; (2) What physical activity and nutrition policy efforts did PEP grantees report?; (3) What physical fitness, physical education, and nutrition activities did PEP grantees report?; (4) What role did community partnerships play in PEP projects?; (5) What were PEP grantees' experiences with collecting and using BMI data?; and (6) What implementation challenges and lessons learned did PEP grantees report? This study is based solely on self-reported data and offers broad descriptive information about PEP implementation. The findings presented in this report describe grantees' experiences as they relate to each study question. [For "Results in Brief: Evaluation of the Carol M. White Physical Education Program," see ED613388.]