As Safe Routes to School programs have increased across the country, a clear need for better data management at the national level has become apparent. 

Considerable evidence has accrued that cardiovascular disease (CVD) has its beginnings during childhood, with some reports of endothelial damage occurring in early adolescence. Thus, early prevention and intervention on developing cardiometabolic risk factors is important.

This webinar and the report will serve as informative guides for communities that are interested in taking control of their own data, and will give them the power to better understand GIS tools and how GIS maps can identify issues that need to be addressed.

In this webinar, hear from staff from municipal transportation departments that prioritize walking and bicycling in a number of ways, including housing Safe Routes to School staff.

These action briefs are a companion to the webinar "Maximizing City Involvement in Safe Routes to School: Educating Municipal Transportation Departments" that took place on June 20, 2013. Watch an audio-visual recording here. View Powerpoint slides: Gabe Graff, City of Portland- slides; Nancy Nichols, City of Fort Collins - slides.

Objective: The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that community-based environmental change intervention prevents undesirable weight gain in children.

These action briefs are a companion to the webinar "Maximizing City Involvement in Safe Routes to School: Educating Municipal Transportation Departments" that took place on June 20, 2013.

• Objectives: We investigated associations between weight status, activity level, and diet with asthma or wheeze as well as the interrelationship between these factors.

This study examined the association between physical fitness and academic achievement and determined the influence of socioeconomic status (SES) on the association between fitness and academic achievement in school-aged youth.

One way to increase physical activity opportunities is to increase access to recreational facilities. 

This presentation by John O. Spengler, University of Florida explores community use of school property, providing defintions and addressing the many issues regarding shared use.

In 2013, HB 525 and SB 392 were introduced as companion bills to encourage the adoption of shared use (joint use) agreements in Florida and to promote physical activity during non-school time. 

Few studies have examined how joint-use agreements between schools and communities affect use of school facilities after hours for physical activity in under-resourced communities. 

This downloadable report from the Institute of Medicine is a compilation of information around increasing physical activity in K-12 schools.

In 2009, 50 communities across the country were selected to participate in Communities Putting Prevention to Work , a stimulus-funded project that worked at the county-level to increase opportunities for healthy eating and active living through policy, systems and environmental changes. 

This sample Use of Facilities policy for Chester County in South Carolina works to establish the basic structure for community use of school facilities.

Researchers investigated the relationship between aerobic fitness, learning, and memory on a task that involved remembering names and locations on a fictitious map. Different learning strategies and recall procedures were employed to better understand fitness effects on learning novel material.

This study examined the association between physical fitness and academic achievement and determined the influence of socioeconomic status (SES) on the association between fitness and academic achievement in school-aged youth.

• Obesity and physical inactivity may have a negative impact on cognitive function and academic achievement. This prospective study investigated whether childhood motor function predicts later academic achievement via physical activity, fitness, and obesity.

Gross and fine motor skills and cognitive performance in obese and overweight children were compared to healthy weight children. Participants were 1,543 children (797 boys and 746 girls) ages 43 to 84 months, attending childcare centers in Munich, Germany.