High School Physical Education Programs Research Articles

Students’ Perspectives of Social and Emotional Learning in a High School Physical Education Program

Purpose: This study aimed to explore students’ perspectives and experiences of social and emotional learning (SEL) during physical education high school classes. Method: Using a case study design, focus group and individual interviews were implemented with 42 students. Based on the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning’s SEL framework, deductive and inductive qualitative data analysis was conducted. The trustworthiness of this study was enhanced through peer debriefing process with various strategies. Result: Four themes were generated from the data analysis: Think about it more in depth, You can say how you feel, Care and support, and Different levels of buy-in. Discussion/Conclusion: Students’ SEL experiences in this study were overall aligned with the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning’s SEL competencies and framework. This study suggests that more research is needed to better understand students’ SEL experiences holistically.

Strategies for Implementing High-Intensity Functional Training Into High School Physical Education

High-Intensity Functional Training (HIFT) has become a popular mode of exercise. HIFT is a training style that involves performance of coordinated, whole-body exercises at high relative intensities. Research has shown that there are numerous health benefits from performing HIFT. This article addresses how to incorporate HIFT into a high school physical education program, suggests some HIFT exercises that may be utilized by high school physical education teachers, offers simple program options high school physical education teachers may want to incorporate in their curriculum, provides some HIFT exercises that can be incorporated in high school, and provides practical options to overcome some potential roadblocks.

Student Reflections on Urban Physical Education and Involvement in College Physical Activity

The purpose of this study was to understand freshman college students’ reflections on urban high school physical education (PE) programs and to discern the extent to which their experiences influenced college physical activity. Sixteen university freshman students enrolled in a college PE class who had taken at least one high school PE class in an urban school setting were interviewed. Data collection methods included open-ended semi-structured qualitative interviews. Using constant comparative analysis, the reflective findings of the study revealed that students who had positive experiences had increased college physical activity involvement.

Breaking News: High Schools Surpass Elusive Goal for Physical Education Minutes per Week!

There are many excellent high school physical educators who continue to make a good-faith effort to provide their students with very good physical education experiences. But high school physical education programs in part have been hijacked by interscholastic athletics. For well over two decades now, experts have argued how school physical education should be a central player in improving the nation's public health (including strength development). This implies a focus on all students, not just the athletes. Moreover, the 2016 United States Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth gave schools a D+, in part because over 50 percent of the high school students reported participating in only one physical education class in the previous week — despite the national recommendations for daily physical education. Reducing the inequities because of athletic mission creep would be one way of improving this grade in the future. It is time for strength development and sport programs to return to their rightful “extracurricular” place in schools — that is, outside of regular school hours. It is time to eliminate the systemic athletic inequity that has crept into U.S. high schools.

Experiences of teacher evaluation systems on high school physical education programs

ABSTRACTPrimary objective: Teacher evaluation is being revamped by policy-makers. The marginalized status of physical education has protected this subject area from reform for many decades, but in our current era of system-wide, data-based decision-making, physical education is no longer immune. Standardized and local testing, together with structured observation measures, are swiftly being mandated in the USA as required elements of teacher evaluation systems in an effort to improve school programs and student achievement. The purpose of this investigation was to document how this reform was initiated and the experiences of teachers, students and administrators, from three high school physical education programs, during initiation of this reform. Documenting how physical education programs respond to such reforms develops our understanding of top-down reform efforts and helps to identify conditions under which such reforms have the intended effect on physical education teachers and student learning in physical education.Theoretical framework: Fullan’s three phases of school change has been used to analyze and guide school change efforts in several subject areas including physical education. The phases are initiation, implementation and institutionalization. This study is situated primarily within the first phase of school change, the initiation phase.Methods and procedures: This study took place over a 21-month period in 3 suburban school districts in a northeast metropolitan area of the USA. Interviews with district physical education administrators, high school physical education teachers and students were conducted. Field notes of physical education classes, informal interviews and related artifacts including pre- and post-physical education assessments were collected. To ensure trustworthiness, several steps were taken including member checks, triangulation and peer review. The data were analyzed to find common themes and patterns using the constant comparative method.Results: Several themes emerged: (1) changes in curriculum and assessment; (2) effect on administrators; (3) stakeholder apathy and (4) department collaboration.Conclusion: Changes, although minor, did take place in the wake of this top-down teacher reform; however, additional research needs to be completed to determine whether or not these changes are meaningful or long lasting.

Teacher-Led Change in Secondary School Physical Education

How and why meaningful curriculum or program changes happen in physical education is important, but not well understood, especially at the secondary school level. In this longitudinal case study, we examined teacher-initiated changes in a high school physical education program. Data were collected through prolonged engagement over 5 years and included interviews with teachers and students, documents from the physical education department, field notes, survey responses, and presentation notes. A broad range of change forces, including a standards-based assessment program, was assessed using qualitative methods. Consistencies and inconsistencies between Fullan’s theoretical framework on changes in education and what occurred in this physical education program are identified. Ways that change was aligned with Fullan’s phases of change (Initiation, Implementation, and Institutionalization) were also considered. Results suggest that aspects of Fullan’s framework are aligned with systematic changes in physical education. Teachers, as passionate, committed change agents, were essential for positive change. Elements of bottom-up and top-down educational reform were present in varying degrees. The effect of external change agents and funding, however, was noticeably absent.

The Evolution of a Wellness Program: A Team-based Approach to Curricular Innovation

The purpose of this article is to provide evidence of how an integrated high school health, physical education, and wellness program can be implemented. In addition to describing the process used to develop and maintain this wellness curriculum, the article describes the content of the curriculum and how the teachers were able to capture and hold the interest of students. The article also describes how the teachers overcame some of the challenges that all too often get in the way of schools offering quality programs, with a focus on those challenges that come from within the school's own department. It is hoped that other high school physical educators will be inspired to take on the challenge of making high school physical education programs relevant to all students.

Profiles of Change: Lessons for Improving High School Physical Education

This feature has told stories of high school physical educators who have refused to accept the status quo of high school physical education programs. They have identified problems, initiated innovations in their own classes, implemented changes beyond their classes, and moved toward institutionalizing improvements throughout their programs and schools. While some believe initiating change in school physical education programs to be impossible without administrative, district, or state mandates, these teachers have proved otherwise — change from within is not only possible, but rewarding. This article reviews the lessons learned from these stories and synthesizes some principles of teacher-initiated change for secondary physical education.

Summative Assessments: How We Improved Our High School Physical Education Program

Physical education classes at the authors' high school expose students to a variety of activities that are specifically geared toward their interests. The teachers and students also assess learning with the goal of attaining physical education standards including skills, strategies, rules, and personal/social responsibility. Seven years ago this was very different. This article summarizes the changes that took place in this program, beginning with the implementation of summative assessments.

Sport Education and social goals in physical education: relationships with enjoyment, relatedness, and leisure-time physical activity

Background: Adolescents' decisions to engage in physical activities are influenced by the social aspects of the activity, including opportunity for affiliation, being part of a team, and the social status it offers. A curriculum and instructional model that has been shown to embed the student social system within a positive program of action is Sport Education. Preliminary evidence has suggested that Sport Education challenges social hierarchical groups and promotes more inclusive social goal involvement. Research is required to extend this work and provide a larger-scale empirical analysis of the influence of a Sport Education program on students' social goal involvement in compulsory high-school physical education and examine how these social goals impact important student affective and behavioral outcomes. Purpose: The purpose of this study was two-fold: (a) to explore the social goals of high-school physical education students after experiencing a year of Sport Education and (b) to explore the relationships these social goals had with perceptions of enjoyment and relatedness in physical education as well as participation in leisure-time exercise. Participants and setting: A total of 363 10th-grade students from the American Mid-West who had completed a year-long compulsory high-school physical education program taught using Sport Education participated in this study. Data Collection: All students participated in four 25-lesson seasons of team sports-based activity taught using the Sport Education model. Seasons taught included floor hockey, volleyball, team handball, and basketball. All seasons were taught by the same teacher. On completion of the year-long compulsory program, participants completed a questionnaire that included items pertaining to their social goals, relatedness, enjoyment of physical education, and self-reported participation in extra-curricular physical activities. Findings: Data were initially screened for outliers and distribution assumptions were examined. Internal consistency estimates were calculated for all variables except physical activity because it was a single item indicator. Descriptive statistics showed that students who had completed two full semesters of Sport Education had higher than average scores on all three social goals of affiliation, recognition, and status. Findings from the multiple regression analyses revealed the robust contribution that social recognition and social affiliation goals made to students perceived relatedness and enjoyment of physical education. Social recognition and status goals also significantly positively predicted extra-curricular exercise participation. Conclusions: This study provides evidence to suggest that prolonged exposure to the pedagogical features of Sport Education develops students' social bonds by configuring the physical education environment to promote peer social approval for participatory behaviors within the model. These social bonds strongly predicted students' perceived relatedness to peers and their enjoyment of the Sport Education experience. Importantly, these social connections to peers and social standing developed in Sport Education influenced their decision to participate in extra-curricular exercise behaviors.

Coteaching in Physical Education: A Strategy for Inclusive Practice

Qualitative research methods were used to explore the factors that informed general and adapted physical education teachers' coteaching practices within an inclusive high school physical education program. Two physical education teachers and one adapted physical education teacher were observed over a 16-week period. Interviews, field notes, and documents were collected and a constant comparative approach was used in the analysis that adopted a social model framework. Primary themes included community as the cornerstone for student learning, core values of trust and respect, and creating a natural support structure. Coteaching practices existed because of the shared values of teaching, learning, and the belief that all students should be included. Recommendations include shifting orientations within professional preparation programs to account for the social model of disability.

Preservice Teachers’ Perceptions about Assessment and Its Implementation

Examining how preservice teachers (PTs) perceive and implement assessment may provide clues as to how we can refocus the way future teachers use assessment. A conceptual framework addressing PT beliefs and how they change was applied in this study to examine PTs’ (N = 17) beliefs and understanding of the role of assessment and evaluation on student learning and instruction while implementing a high school physical education program. PTs experienced and discussed the role of needs assessment, assessment-focused instruction, and authentic and alternative assessments in relation to student learning and instruction using a teaching for understanding framework (Wiggins, 1998). Data gathered included surveys and interviews documenting PTs’ previously held beliefs and conceptions; current perceptions of the assessment concepts used during the course and in their units; analysis of assessments used in unit plans; and PTs’ perceptions of assessment and student learning during and after the unit taught. PTs planned and implemented alternative/authentic as well as traditional assessments in three out of four units. PTs’ beliefs about student learning and assessment were varied. Despite ultimate lack of teacher authority, PTs felt that doing these assessments affected their beliefs about assessment. Some PTs accommodated new information about authentic assessment and expanded their understanding, whereas other PTs either resisted or assimilated this new knowledge into existing belief structures. The results indicate that shaping critical and authentic assessment experiences in teacher preparation deserves increased attention and deliberate planning throughout PETE programs if shifts in beliefs are to be made.

The Girls of Central High: How a Progressive Era Book Series for Girls Furthered the Cause of Female Interschool Sport

An increased awareness of the gendered traditions of physical activity portrayed in vintage book series for girls and boys may provide teachers with a deeper understanding of (still) current ideological assumptions affecting female and male participation in sport and recreational activity. This article explores a unique girls’ fiction series about competitive high school sport for females during the Progressive Era. These stories are significant in that they enabled young women to explore conventional and resistant viewpoints about competitive sport, usually a strictly masculine preserve. While these struggles occurred nearly one hundred years ago, echoes of these issues reverberate today in contemporary high school physical education and competitive sport programs.

Baseline Fitness and Health Data in a Nationally Recognized Junior and Senior High School Physical Education Program

Baseline Fitness and Health Data in a Nationally Recognized Junior and Senior High School Physical Education Program

Effect Of New Equipment And Technology On Physical Fitness Scores In Adolescents

The growing obesity and health risk of American youth demands new PE curriculums that use effective strategies to improve fitness, health, and teach lifelong disease prevention strategies. The New PE movement introduces technology into the classroom to better teach the connection between physical activity and physiological consequences along with modern workout equipment, commonly used by adults, to train youth in lifelong fitness techniques. The merit of this approach to PE has not been evaluated. PURPOSE Does purchasing and incorporating new fitness equipment and technologies into a high school physical education program improve physical fitness test scores over two years? METHODS Fitness-assessment software, cardiovascular exercise equipment, resistance training equipment, and heart-rate monitors were provided to a high school PE program in fall 2002. Pre-test President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports scores on one-minute curl-ups (n = 471), shuttle run (n = 458), pull-ups (n = 275), sit and reach (n = 477) and the mile run (n = 370) were collected for all high school students at the beginning of school in fall 2002 and compared to the same student's scores at the end of the year in spring 2004. Comparisons were made to identify improvements in each student's fitness ranking, mean change in scores, and mean percent changes during the two-year span. Student pre-post test score comparisons were made using a t-test with repeated measures. RESULTS From pre- to post-test, curl-ups increased 9.0%, shuttle run time decreased 0.2%, sit and reach increased 5.9%, mile run decreased 0.1% and pull-ups increased 42.0%. Of the five tests, curl-up and shuttle run were found to be significantly different. However, mean score differences between pre- and post-test indicated that all scores improved. CONCLUSIONS Though improvement occurred for all tests, changes for the two years were not large and may have reflected physical maturation. The increased activities and opportunities provided by new equipment and technology do not automatically enhance student fitness. Teacher training in the use of sophisticated equipment, technology, and teaching of health and fitness principles is necessary for educators to fully utilize these technological advances to effectively educate students. Funded by IL Office of Attorney General, Vitamin Anti-Trust Settlement and IAPHERD Jump Rope for Heart Program.

State-Mandated Curriculum Change in Three High School Physical Education Programs

High school physical education programs in South Carolina have undergone a major reform effort which was implemented through extensive staff development called the Physical Education Institute (PEI). How to teach toward student performance indicators became the focus of the in-services. This study identified factors that facilitated or hindered implementing the performance indicators, and examined the extent to which key players from three selected programs of secondary physical education were able to achieve the goals of the reform effort. Data were collected through interviews, document analysis, and videotaping lessons. Results reveal that “lead teachers” facilitated the extent to which programs met the goals of reform. The teaching/coaching role conflict was a main hindrance. Each school and teacher met each of the student performance indicators to varying degrees. Implications include the need for a shared reform, holding teachers and students accountable, and the need for administrators and university faculty to be involved.

The physical activity and fitness of our nation's children

THERE WAS ONCE a time when one could drive around our nation’s communities, visit the parks, or stop by the schools’ gymnasiums and find children of all ages playing, running, participating in sporting events, and being involved in some type of physical activity. Since the information age, modern technology has promoted a more sedentary lifestyle with more and more individuals spending time sitting in front of the computer at their jobs and at home. Children and youth find watching television or playing video games more desirable and easier than physically participating in activities themselves. Even our school systems, because of limited financial resources, have contributed to sedentary lifestyles by devoting fewer resources to physical activity instructions, playgrounds, and after-school sports programs. The long-term effects of these recent trends in limited physical fitness and activity among our children will have a significant impact on the health of the nation in the future. This article focuses on the physical activity and the fitness of our children. An overview of the Healthy People 2000 results and the new Healthy People 2010 objectives in the area of physical activity and fitness will be discussed. Recent legislative initiatives to improve the health of our children and strategies to support those initiatives will be discussed. At the beginning of the 21st century, particular attention is being paid to health promotion and disease prevention as shown by Healthy People 2000 (HP2K) objectives and the recent unveiling of the Healthy People 2010 objectives. Physical activity and fitness remain one of the major priority areas for the Healthy People 2010 objectives. The Healthy People 2000 Midcourse Review (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1995) showed some improvement in overall physical activity for the U.S. population. However, there was still a decline in the percentage of students engaged in daily school physical education. There has been a 50% drop of required physical activity in high school physical education programs from 1991 through 1997. Only one state in the U.S., Illinois, currently requires daily physical education from kindergarten through the 12th grade. HP2K results also showed that 1 in 5 teenagers, as well as 1 in 3 adults, is overweight, which is one of the consequences of decreased physical activity (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Healthy People 2000 Midcourse Review, 1995, p. 25). Other potential consequences of being overweight are poor self-esteem, increased violence, missed school days owing to illness, increased orthopedic problems, and increased risk for developing chronic diseases like asthma and type II diabetes mellitus (Moran, 1999, p. 861; U.S. Senate, 1999). Unfortunately, many of these childhood onset consequences, caused by being physically inactive and overweight, will also be carried over into adulthood. The lack of physical education affects our nation’s future and requires a multidimensional approach to not only meet the HP2K objectives but also to close the gap as recommended by the Healthy People 2010 objectives. The impact of poor health habits costs the nation more than $100 billion per year, and inactivity and poor diet cause more than 300,000 deaths per year From the Division of Nursing, Graduate Family Nurse Practitioner Program, Howard University, Washington, DC. Address reprint requests to Dr. Stephanie L. Ferguson, 46809 Trailwood Place, Sterling, VA 20165-7544. E-mail: drslferg@aol.com Copyright 2000 by W.B. Saunders Company 0882-5963/00/1504-0008$10.00 doi:10.1053/jpdn.2000.8045

A School—University Collaborative Journey Toward Relevance and Meaning in an Urban High School Physical Education Program

The promise and potential for collaborative teams of school and university colleagues to address substantive issues in physical education were the focus of an international conference and a series of high-profile articles in the late 80s and early 90s. However, school-university partnerships have seldom focused on school reform. Few scholars address secondary school physical education, save for the occasional article describing its eminent demise. Successful implementation of innovative practices, such as curricular and instructional revisions, requires significant investments in teacher development. This paper details a specific collaborative effort in physical education that makes a case for systematic long-term commitments to improve young people's physical education experiences. Stories from a 4-year collaborative highlight the complexities and challenges faced by any subdisciplinary group that commits to connecting professional preparation and practice for the benefit of our respective constituencies.

Can Conceptual Physical Education Promote Physically Active Lifestyles?

This study examined the physical activity participation of students in a large southwestern high school 1–3 years after they had been exposed to a 9th-grade conceptual physical education program. Comparisons were made to students exposed to traditional physical education. Students were assessed using physical activity questions from the 1995 Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Students from the conceptual program met adolescent guidelines for physical activity, especially those who participated in the program in its first year of operation. Females were significantly less likely to report sedentary behaviors if they had been exposed to the conceptual, rather than traditional, high school physical education program.

Risk Management Behaviors of High School Principals in the Supervision of Their High School Physical Education and Athletic Programs

Risk Management Behaviors of High School Principals in the Supervision of Their High School Physical Education and Athletic Programs