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Walking School Bus

An Evidence-Based Practice

Description

The Walking School Bus is a program in which children walk to school as a group, led by parents or another adult. Students are picked up in front of their home or at a designated stop. Children and their parents can choose when they participate, and may choose to do so up to five days a week. Funding for the study to evaluate the Walking School Bus program, which also provided staff to walk with the children, came from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the National Cancer Institute, the Harris County Hospital District Foundation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Goal / Mission

The goal of the "walking school bus" is to increase children's rates of active commuting to school and physical activity.

Results / Accomplishments

An evaluation of the program found that among 4th graders who participated in a pilot program of the "walking school bus" for four to five weeks, the percent who actively commute to school increased from 23.8% to 54%. Active commuting among children who did not participate decreased from 40.2% to 32.6%. Participating children also increased their minutes of daily moderate-to-vigorous physical activity from 46.6 to 48.8; children who did not participate decreased from 46.1 to 41.3. The differences between children who participated and children who did not participate were significant (p<0.05). While previous research indicates that active commuting to school naturally declines as the school-year progresses, the evaluation of the Walking School Bus program concluded that the program improved children's active commuting to school and daily activity.

About this Promising Practice

Organization(s)
Children's Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)
Primary Contact
Jason A. Mendoza, M.D., M.P.H.
Baylor College of Medicine
One Baylor Plaza
Houston, TX 77030
713-798-6767
jamendoz@bcm.edu
http://www.bcm.edu/cnrc/
Topics
Health / Children's Health
Health / Physical Activity
Community / Transportation
Organization(s)
Children's Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)
Date of publication
9/1/2011
Date of implementation
2011
Geographic Type
Urban
Location
Houston, TX
For more details
http://www.bcm.edu/news/item.cfm?newsID=4316
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21859920
Target Audience
Children

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  4. Safe Routes to School

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Related Content for: Walking School Bus

An Evidence-Based Practice meets the following HCI criteria:

  1. The program description includes at a minimum: the sponsoring organization, program goals, program implementation steps, and outcomes that have demonstrated program success in achieving the program goal in one or more localities.
  2. The results from an evaluation of the program include quantitative measures showing improvement in the outcome(s) of interest after the implementation of the program (i.e. increase in smoking cessation, not just the delivery of a smoking cessation program). The outcome measure(s) is/are compared at relevant time periods before and after the intervention or program implementation. Alternatively, the evaluation study compares the outcome(s) between an intervention group and an appropriate control group.
  3. The study is of peer-review quality and presents numbers in a scientific manner; measurements of precision and reliability are included (e.g. confidence intervals, standard errors), results from statistical tests show a significant difference or change in the outcome measure(s), and relevant point estimates and p-values are presented. Note: if the results from an evaluation of a program are presented in a scientific manner and the outcome measure is improved compared to the baseline measurement or the control group but the difference is not statistically significant, the practice is classified as effective and not evidence-based.
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