Background: Improving the academic achievement of youth in the United States is an area of interest and a critical indicator of the future success of the youth. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of a comprehensive school physical activity and healthy eating program on 5th-grade students' academic achievement, specifically reading and math.
Methods: Overall, 628 (intervention: 377, 54% girls; comparison: 251, 49% girls) 5th-grade children participated across the 6 schools in a year-long comprehensive health intervention, completing curriculum-based academic achievement measures at 2 time-points.
Results: Results showed that even after controlling for class clustering, age, sex, race, and T1 reading and math variables, students' T2 reading and math achievement were significantly higher in the intervention group than the comparison group.
Conclusions: Comprehensive health programming can enhance the health and academic achievement of youth.
Keywords: WSCC model; academic achievement; healthy eating; physical activity; school physical activity; whole school, whole community, whole child model.
© 2021, American School Health Association.