Lincoln Middle School Launches Innovative PE4life Academy
Quality, Health-and-Wellness-Based Physical Education
Program Expected to Improve
Fitness Levels, Enhance Academic Performance
March 6, 2007 – Lincoln College Preparatory
Middle School students were joined yesterday by a variety
of community VIPs, Academy funders, and KCMSD administrators
and board members during grand opening ceremonies for
the school’s new PE4life Academy.
PE4life Academies are exemplary, daily physical education
programs that focus on lifetime, health-related physical
activity and fitness. They also provide training to
outside school and community leaders in the development
of their own PE4life programs. The Academies are operated
by PE4life, a Kansas City-based non-profit.
The students and community leaders demonstrated the
latest technology in the field at the school’s
fitness center, including heart rate monitors, interactive
fitness equipment such as Dance Dance Revolution, SportWalls,
leading-edge strength and cardiovascular equipment and
a traverse climbing wall.
The PE4life Academy is designed to serve all youth
within the school, not just the athletically-inclined,
and emphasizes effort and individualized programs, not
skill levels. Lincoln’s PE4life program has been
operational since the beginning of the school year and
following today’s official launch as a PE4life
Academy, the school will now start training community
teams from around the metro area in the PE4life approach
to physical education.
“PE4life has had a tremendous impact on our school,
students are seeing change in their body composition,
they are feeling good about themselves and that is translating
into a reduction in aggressive behaviors,” said
Kenneth Holstine, associate principal at Lincoln. “In
addition, this year we have seen a significant drop
(14%) in 6th grade students being placed on academic
probation.”
The PE4life approach to physical education – often
labeled the “new PE” -- is working. For example,
students at PE4life Academies across the country are
scoring consistently higher than the norm on standardized
fitness assessments vs. their peers. In two critical
categories, “aerobic capacity” and “body
composition,” the PE4life students’ scores
have been significantly higher than their peers in non-PE4life
programs.
In addition, the benefits being seen have extended
beyond physical fitness. A statewide study in California
revealed that fit kids perform better academically.
And at Naperville Central High School, home to another
PE4life Academy, students that took a fitness-based
physical education course, in addition to a literacy
class, improved their reading and comprehension scores
by 1.4 years on a grade-level equivalency scale, nearly
a 50% greater improvement than students who took the
literacy class alone.
Moreover, at Woodland Elementary, a KCMSD school and
home to Kansas City’s other PE4life Academy, a
report revealed that disciplinary problems, resulting
in out-of-school suspensions, dropped 67% after the
PE4life program was implemented.
A big reason for the PE4life success is that students
like the change from the old traditional gym class to
the new high-tech, interactive approach used by PE4life
to get kids moving.
"There is a new and improved student body shaping
up at Lincoln Prep because of the PE4life Academy,"
said Kathryn Blair, an eighth grader at Lincoln. "Often
you hear success stories about adults losing weight
and getting fit, but now at Lincoln we have many success
stories about teens getting fit. And exercise grows
brain cells. So, work out, get fit, and get better grades!"
Since 1970, the percentage of kids who are overweight
or obese has risen almost fourfold. As former surgeon
general Richard Carmona, M.D. has said, “As we
look to the future and where childhood obesity will
be in 20 years … it is every bit as threatening
to us as is the terrorist threat we face today. It is
the threat from within.”
The Lincoln PE4life Academy wouldn’t have come
to fruition without the support and commitment of several
Kansas City area organizations, including Blue Cross/Blue
Shield of Kansas City, Health Care Foundation of Greater
Kansas City, Kauffman Foundation, and Menorah Legacy
Foundation.
“We are tremendously grateful to the Kansas City-area
supporters that have made this PE4life Academy at Lincoln
a reality,” said Anne Flannery, president and CEO
of PE4life. “Fostering lifelong fitness habits
through quality health-and-wellness-based physical education
in school is the single best solution to reduce childhood
obesity and exposure to chronic diseases and the data
is very encouraging regarding the positive benefits
on academic performance and disciplinary issues.”
Peter Yelorda of Blue Cross/Blue Shield believes the
PE4life training model will allow the positive benefits
to reach well beyond Lincoln’s walls.
“Along with our fellow supporters of this new
PE4life Academy at Lincoln College Prep Middle School,
we’re excited that -- through the Academy’s
training component -- this initiative will not only
positively impact the students at Lincoln, but also
students throughout the Kansas City Missouri school
district and the entire metropolitan area,” said
Yelorda.
About PE4life
PE4life® is a national advocacy, not-for-profit
organization whose mission is to develop a country of
active, healthy and academically-prepared children and
youth by increasing access to quality physical education
solutions. By convening those who are concerned about
the health and fitness of children, providing education
and acting as a catalyst for change in our communities
and schools, PE4life imparts the knowledge, skills,
and inspiration for children to adopt a lifetime of
physical activity, health and wellbeing. PE4life Academies
are currently established in Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa,
Pennsylvania, Arkansas and Missouri. PE4life® is
headquartered at 127 West 10th Street, Suite 101, Kansas
City, MO 64105; Tel. 816-472-7345; www.pe4life.org
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