Background/Purpose Due to the economic situation of many states and the emphasis on standardized testing, opportunities for students to exercise in school are declining. School administrators fail to recognize the importance of exercise and prefer different strategies to improve standardized scores. The purpose of this study was to determine if exercise was an effective strategy to improve reading retention.
Method Middle school students (n=285) were measured on their ability to correctly answer ten multiple choice questions taken from an age appropriate reading passage. Half were selected to conduct an eight-inch step test for ten minutes at a pace of one complete step every two seconds before conducting the reading test. Scores (range 100-500) taken from Louisiana standardized reading tests (ELA) verified equal groups.
Analysis/Results Findings revealed that students who exercised immediately prior to reading the passage answered statistically higher than the control group (mean 6.4 vs. 4.3 correct), F(1,273) = 107.1, p < .001. Despite random assignment, the experimental group held slightly higher mean ELA scores (338 vs. 320). An ANCOVA was computed to control for the differing ELA scores and a significant difference was observed between the no exercise and the exercise group, F(1,281) = 83.1, p < .001, on reading scores.
Conclusions Exercise is one method schools should consider in attempts to improve reading scores. Previous research has supported that exercise can influence cognition. Implementing even short duration exercise prior to cognitive testing may yield increases in student achievement in reading. Further study of the impact of exercise immediately prior to an actual standardized reading test is needed.