Closing the Obesity Achievement Gap: Evidence-Based Practices that School Counselors Can Help Implement.

School counselors are charged with helping students in the personal/social, academic, and career development domains. Obesity creates adverse educational outcomes for students along these three domains, suggesting an obesity achievement gap. Thus, school counselors can benefit from knowing which interventions have been shown to be successful in working with students who are overweight. This article presents school counselors with five empirically-based interventions to confront obesity in their schools: Student Media Awareness to Reduce Television (SMART), Dance for Health, Planet Health, Stanford Health Heart Program, and PE4Life. The specific role that school counselors can assume to help implement these interventions is also reviewed. Closing the Obesity 3 Closing the Obesity Achievement Gap: Evidence-Based Practices That School Counselors Can Help Implement The achievement gap refers to disparities in academic achievement between groups of students, especially with regard to: test scores, grade point average, attendance, drop-out rates, high school graduation rates, and college admission rates. Traditionally, school counselors have focused on achievement gaps based on ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and gender. However, due to the rising obesity rates and corresponding educational outcomes, school counselors might also consider an obesity achievement gap. Obesity Achievement Gap Obesity and its associated health, psychological, social, and other risk factors has been an increasingly researched topic. Obesity is defined as a condition where there is excess body weight due to an abnormal accumulation of adipose tissue (fat) to the extent that health is impaired (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute [NHLBI], 2000). Obesity is primarily determined using the Body Mass Index (BMI), which is calculated based on one’s weight and height (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2007). Obesity and overweight are often used interchangeably in the literature. These two labels refer to different weight status in the BMI range of measurement. The term obesity, however, is avoided for BMI use with children and adolescents due to the stigmatization, which may ensue once they are categorized as obese (Budd & Volpe, 2006). Alternatively, a child who has a BMI between 85th and 94th percentiles is considered as at risk for overweight, whereas a child with BMI greater than or equal to the 95th percentile is defined as overweight (CDC, 2007). Closing the Obesity 4 Obesity and School Counseling The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Model (2005) promotes school counselor accountability for academic achievement. To date, minimal research has been conducted on the school counselor’s role in addressing obesity and its corresponding educational effects. However, Ballard and Alessi (2006) explored the impact of obesity on the academic, personal/social, and career development of children using the ASCA National Model delivery system. In their article, they listed ideas about how a school counselor might address obesity through classroom guidance, individual planning, responsive services, and system support. The impact of childhood obesity extends far further than the known associated health risks, such as diabetes, heart disease, and stroke among others. Overweight children have significantly lower test scores in math and reading compared to their nonoverweight peers (Datar, Strum, & Magnabosco, 2004; Judge & Jahns, 2007). Falkner et al. (2001) reported overweight adolescent girls were more likely to be held back a grade level as compared to non-overweight females. This trend persists past the elementary and secondary levels, into post-secondary education. Crosnoe (2007) indicated overweight females were half as likely to attend college as non-overweight females. In addition, a longitudinal study concluded that as compared to their nonoverweight peers, women who were obese in their adolescence completed fewer total years of education (Gortmaker et al., 1993). Participation in physical activity is greatest for teens and adolescents during the school day. However, with budget cuts and a focus on standardized testing, schools are allotting less time to physical education and recess, as well as cutting extracurricular Closing the Obesity 5 sports and activities (Ballard & Alessi, 2006). As time and money for physical education, recess, and after-school sports decrease, the rates of childhood obesity may become exacerbated, and lead to lower rates of academic achievement. Increased school counselor accountability is necessary as the relationship between obesity and academic achievement becomes more evident. Several researchers have explored the effects of being overweight on academic achievement. For example, Datar, Strum, and Magnabosco (2004) analyzed the test scores of kindergartners and first graders using a national representative sample. Results showed lower math and reading scores in overweight children when compared to their non-overweight peers. However the discrepancies became insignificant when controlling for socioeconomic and behavioral variables, suggesting “overweight is a marker but not a causal factor [of obesity]” (Datar, Strum, & Magnabosco, 2004, p. 58). “Nevertheless, because young children’s peers are more likely to notice obesity, per se, the relationship between obesity and lower academic performance may contribute to the stigma associated with overweight” (Pyle et al., 2006, p. 365). A follow-up study indicated that becoming overweight between kindergarten and the completion of third grade was associated with reduction in test scores and positive teacher ratings on approaches to learning (e.g., attentiveness, task persistence, eagerness to learn, learning independence, flexibility, and organization), in girls (Datar & Strum, 2006). Educational self-efficacy and student absenteeism are also related to the obesity achievement gap. Faulkner et al. (2001) reported that obese adolescents believe they are worse students as compared to their non-overweight peers, regardless of their actual academic achievement. Also, with an average of four missed days per month, Closing the Obesity 6 severely obese students have more absent school days than the general student population (Schwimmer et al., 2003). However, as Taras and Potts-Datema (2005) suggested, this may be due to the increased number of medical appointments that are necessary for severely obese children. Increased absenteeism may also be related to the teasing and bullying overweight children encounter in schools, as well as the students’ “fear [of] being embarrassed or ostracized by their peers” (Janssen, Craig, Boyce, & Pickett, 2004; Geier et al., 2007, p. 2160). While studies have shown that an obesity achievement gap exists, this gap becomes even greater for minority and low-income overweight students. As Burton and VanHeest (2007) stated, “overweight is disproportionately more prevalent in minority children” (p. 212). Specifically, 20% of Non-Hispanic Black children and 19% of Hispanic children were classified as overweight between 2003-2004, compared to 16% of non-Hispanic White children (Ogden et al., 2006). Datar, Strum, and Magnabosco (2004) found overweight children were significantly more likely to be Hispanic and poor, as well as have less educated mothers when compared with non-overweight children. The likelihood of childhood overweight and lower test scores increased for children with family incomes of less than $75,000 and whose mothers did not have a bachelor’s degree (Datar, Strum, & Magnabosco, 2004). “When physical education and recess are reduced or eliminated in an effort to provide more academic instruction for students caught in the achievement gap, these measures may inadvertently contribute to a cycle of inactivity for a group that is significantly more at risk for overweight or is overweight” (Burton & VanHeest, 2007, p. Closing the Obesity 7 216). While researchers remain hesitant to name obesity as a causal factor of low academic achievement, obesity is undoubtedly a marker in the achievement gap. Fitness and Academic Achievement Similar to the findings related to being overweight and academic achievement, recent studies have suggested that level of fitness and physical education participation are also associated with academic achievement. Coe et al. (2006) reported that students who performed at least some vigorous activity during the day had significantly higher grades in four academic core classes than those who performed no vigorous activity. Further, Davis et al. (2007) conducted a fifteen-week study comparing the executive cognitive function of 150 overweight children. They were randomly assigned to one of three groups: high-dose group received 40 minutes of physical activity everyday after school, low-dose group had only 20-minute daily workout, and a control group, which received no exercise sessions. The results showed that the 40-minute group made the greatest cognitive gains, while the 20-minute group’s improvements were ‘merely’ half as large. This suggested that higher levels of daily physical activity positively impact executive function, which in turn increases the planning, organizing, and goal-directed actions that are important for academic achievement. The California Department of Education (2002) conducted a study to explore the relationship between academic achievement and the physical fitness of California’s students. Results indicated higher achievement was associated with higher levels of fitness. Also, students who met the minimum fitness levels in three or more fitness areas showed the greatest improvements in academic achievement. The relationship between achievement and fitness was greater in mathematics than in reading, and Closing the Obesity 8 female students demonstrated greater academic achievement than males (California Department of Education, 2002). As former Californi