Math WASL Performance and Physical Education: Score Comparison Between Students Enrolled in PE Classes Versus Students Not Enrolled in PE Classes.

Abstract

Research suggests that daily physical activity in schools will result in high academic achievement. Studies have shown that schools requiring daily physical education classes achieved higher test scores in math and reading and that schools who lowered the physical education requirements had no gains in testing in those areas. This study examined 306 students in one high school and searched for a correlation between physical education participation and the scores earned on the mathematics portion of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning during the 2005-2006 school year. The hypothesis of this project was that students who are enrolled in a physical education class during the school year will have a higher chance of passing the math portion of the WASL. The results of this specific experiment did not show the expected results. The investigator discovered that in this particular high school there was no significant change in WASL scores for students enrolled in a physical education class.