Discussion The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of increased physical education on reading and mathematics test scores in third grade students at Tryon Elementary School. Results clearly indicate that there is a positive effect on mathematics and reading tests scores in third grade students at Tryon, due to increased physical education. These findings refute the idea that physical education classes should be cut in order to allocate more time for core classroom subjects such as reading, math, science, and social studies. As to other core subjects being affected by physical activity, these are still yet to be determined. However, this study proves that further research should be conducted on the effects of physical education on academics. The fact that the students were selected randomly severely reduced the chances of biased or skewed results. However, there are some threats to the internal validity. The students that are in the control group could be involved with some sort of physical activity program after school. This is not under the researcher’s control. The fact that it is only a twelve- week study also leaves the groups open to pre-test sensitivity. Maturation should not play a major role due to the length of the study. As far as external validity, generalization can only be made towards the third grade students at Tryon Elementary, since they were the only grade that had the opportunity to participate. The results slightly disagreed with an earlier study by Shephard (1997). In his study, he found that despite having reduced academic instruction time, the experimental group showed no significant differences in regards to arithmetic or reading gains. In the present study, there were no significant differences in reading scores; however, there was a significant interaction in the math scores. Shephard (1997) also showed that increased physical education does not compromise academics. The current study supports that theory. In fact all of the previous study in chapter two confirms that are no harmful effects to increased physical education. Labarre, Jequier, Shephard, Lavalle, and Rajic’s (1984) study reported that in the first year of observation the control group faired slightly better according to their grades. However, in the remaining five years the experimental group outperformed the control group. Those findings support the current study in which the experimental group of third grade students outperformed the control group on their reading and mathematics test.

Recommendations

The following recommendations are based on the findings of this study:

1. Future research should be conducted on various grade levels as well as other subject areas, to determine the effects of increased physical education on test scores.

2. Due to time restraints in the instructional day the physical education classes were conducted using the minimum allowed time of thirty-minute classes. Future study should increase the length of time spent in each physical education class to determine in the extra time has a greater affect on the outcome.

3. There are many other positive benefits that come with increased physical education. Future research should investigate the relationship between test scores of students who are physical fit and students who are not.

4. Subjects in this study were from a similar socio-economic setting. Research should focus on different ranges of socio-economic levels to determine the differences.