School Websites: Local Contexts of Physical Activity and Physical Education Information

Abstract

As the digital age continues to evolve, websites provide a potential way for physical education (PE) programs and schools to offer information on how they handle the topic of physical activity (PA). Charter schooling and charter schools have become substantially prevalent over the last 30 years, and the trend does not appear to be slowing. A variety of studies to gather information about PE and PA have already been conducted (Hill et al., 2010; Kahan & McKenzie, 2020; Kahan & McKenzie, 2021; Kahan et al., 2019). Specifically, Kahan and McKenzie have performed a variety of website analyses in the state of California, content-analyzing the sites to surveil PA and PE information on school websites. Further, they have looked at school factors such as local demographics, school size, religious affiliation, and public/private/charter affiliation. By following an intended partial-replication protocol, we looked to surveil Arizona-based charter schools to study the local context of another charter “hotspot.” We collected data through data collection protocols communicated by Dr. Kahan (circa June 2019). By conducting a quantitative descriptive study, we looked at characteristics and ran binary regression models to look for inferentially underlying trends. Descriptively, most findings mirrored those of previous research, with marginal presence of any information specific to PE and PA. We found significant predictors for website information for the categories of sports, PE frequency, presence of a PE teacher, school levels, and recess. We found similarities and differences between school types, but these targeted certain factors that may be expanded on or used to guide future website analyses both in Arizona and nationally. This is significant because as the prevalence of charter schools continues to grow, it is important to keep students sufficiently physically active and physically educated throughout a school day.