Oklahoma Fit Kids Coalition

Student Health and Academic Achievement - CDC

Health-related factors such as hunger, physical and emotional abuse, and chronic illness can lead to poor school performance.  Health-risk behaviors such as substance use, violence, and physical inactivity are consistently linked to academic failure and often affect students' school attendance, grades, test scores, and ability to pay attention in class. - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The Association Between School-Based Physical Activity, Including Physical Education and Academic Performance - CDC

There is a growing body of research focused on the association between school-based physical activity, including physical education, and academic performance among school-aged youth. To better understand these connections, this review includes studies from a range of physical activity contexts, including school-based physical education, recess, classroom-based physical activity (outside of physical education and recess), and extracurricular physical activity. The purpose of this report is to synthesize the scientific literature that has examined the association between school-based physical activity, including physical education, and academic performance, including indicators of cognitive skills and attitudes, academic behaviors, and academic achievement. - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Full Report

Physical Inactivity and Unhealthy Dietary Behaviors and Academic Achievement - CDC

Data presented in the 2009 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) shows a negative association between physical inactivity and unhealthy dietary behaviors and academic achievement after controlling for sex, race/ethnicity, and grade level. This means that students with higher grades are less likely to be physically inactive and engage in unhealthy dietary behaviors than their classmates with lower grades, and students who are physically active and do not engage in unhealthy dietary behaviors receive higher grades than their classmates who are physically inactive and engage in unhealthy dietary behaviors. - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Making the Connection: Health and Student Achievement - Society of State Directors of Health, Physical Education and Recreation (SSDHPER) and the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO)

Teaching Health Education in School - Healthy Children: Powered by Pediatricians.  Trusted by Parents

Health Education in Schools: The Importance of Establishing Healthy Behaviors in our Nation's Youth - American Cancer Society, American Diabetes Association, and American Heart Association