Sharon Murray, the president of the Rocky Mountain Center for Health Promotion and Education, pointed out that states with “health-supporting policies” – things like minimum health and physical education requirements, an emphasis on healthy nutrition standards, funding for school-based health clinics and other student services – tend to have higher test scores and lower dropout rates than states that don’t.
“So my recommendation for action is, the first thing would be supporting health-promoting policies,” Murray said Tuesday at a lecture at the University of Colorado at Denver to discuss strategies for making kids both healthier and smarter. “You know we have no requirements in Colorado for health education or for physical education.”
More on her lecture which included funding sources for physical education and physical activity programs.
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