Research

One Year Study at Jefferson Elementary

After only one year of daily yoga at Jefferson Elementary School in Berwyn, the data revealed the following:

• Disciplinary referrals decreased 50% from the previous year
• 70% of the students in the after school Hip Hop Yoga program met/exceeded standards on the Illinois State Assessment Test in Reading
• 90% of the students in the after school Hip Hop Yoga program met/exceeded standards on the ISAT in Math
• 93% of students in grades 4 and 5 scored higher than the previous year on the ISAT test in Reading
• 96% of students in grades 4 and 5 scored higher than the previous year on the ISAT test in Math

Supporting Research

THE GUIDING PRINCIPLES OF MINDFUL PRACTICES

When students feel well, they are more engaged owners of their own education and more cooperative participants in the classroom. Countless recent research studies confirm these guiding principles of Mindful Practices’ programming.

The Problem: THE DETIORIATING STATE OF STUDENT WELLNESS

Multiple factors conspire to undermine student wellness and, in turn, complicate student behavior:

• Currently approximately 1/3 of US children and adolescents are overweight or obese (Wang & Beydoun, 2007; Bisceglie, 2008).
• Obesity rates have doubled among children and tripled among teens in 10 years, resulting in nearly 8 million overweight young people (Woods, A.M., & Weasmer, J., 2006).
• The prevalence of overweight children in the United States is continuing to increase, especially among Mexican-American and non-Hispanic black adolescents (Ogden 2002; Gordon-Larson et al., 2000; Popkin & Udry, 1998; Kumanyika et al., 2008).
• 47% of students in private and public education in the United States attended PE classes on one or less days in a given week (National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, 2007).
• 30% of children age 10-17 did not exercise or participate in physical activity for at least 20 minutes on 3 or more days during the past week in 2005 (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2005).

Lack of physical activity, lack of access to outdoor space, poor nutrition, increased problems with attention-deficit, peer stressors, among other stressors, all grimly affect student emotional and physical health. “The problem is that schools face the dilemma of too many priorities and too little time, which create a barrier to widespread advances in school wellness” (Biscelglie, 2008).

If physical activity and wellness spurn productivity and positive thinking (Woods, A.M., & Weasmer, J., 2006, WestEd, 2003), it follows logically that inactivity and ill health undermine productivity and spawn negativity, qualities that seriously undermine student behavior and cooperation.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO “BE WELL”?

In her article in American Psychologist, “In Pursuit of Wellness,” E.L. Cowen defines two clusters of wellness indicators:

• The first, “earthy indicators such as eating well, sleeping well, and doing one’s mandated life tasks well” (Cowen, 1991).
• The second set of “somewhat more ethereal includes…a feeling of purpose and belongingness and a basic satisfaction with oneself” (Cowen, 1991).

Mindful Practices works to reinstate health on what Cowen calls both the “earthy” and “ethereal” levels by focusing on three pillars of wellness that, in concert, research has shown to improve student behavior.

Click Here to Download a PDF of the Full Wellness Research Study