Comment now on draft standards-based P.E. framework

SBE will consider it in September; Curriculum Commission recommends adoption

The State Board of Education is accepting comments on a new draft standards-based framework for physical education that proposes grade-specific targets for content knowledge and fitness skills and also includes recommendations for helping California’s K-12 students meet these goals.

The board is scheduled to consider the framework at its Sept. 10-11 meeting and will accept public comment until then. The state Curriculum and Supplemental Materials Commission has recommended adoption.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell said this draft, which is a revision of a document approved in 1994, would be the first P.E. framework to include grade-level standards for content knowledge and fitness goals. The document also would give educators specific examples on how to put together successful physical education programs, as well as guidance for understanding the standards and suggested ways to measure whether P.E. programs are working, O’Connell said.

“This new publication will help schools develop effective strategies to teach children healthy lifestyles so they can be fit for life,” O’Connell said. “In this high-tech age of video games, cell phones and social networking Web sites, kids have lost touch with the joy of being physically active and the social interaction through teamwork that they learn in school.”

Martin Gonzalez, CSBA’s assistant executive director for Governance and Policy Services, encouraged local school districts and county offices of education to review and comment on the new framework.

“Physical education and activity are critical components in the campaign to curb the childhood obesity epidemic,” Gonzalez said. “Research shows that students participating in daily physical education and activity exhibit better attendance, a more positive attitude toward school and superior academic performance.”

According to the framework introduction, the document is intended to serve as a blueprint for reforming physical education in California and to help schools “transform their physical education programs into exciting and effective standards-based instructional programs.”

Jean Schultz, a CSBA student wellness consultant, said the new framework proposes “broad and clear recommendations about what schools need to do” to get students up and moving.

“State law requires a certain amount of physical education,” Schultz said, “but the realities of fitting P.E. into a very structured academic program can be very challenging.”

In fact, California law requires schools to provide at least 200 minutes of physical education every 10 school days for students in grades one through six and twice that amount for seventh- through 12th graders. But a recent state assessment revealed that nearly half of elementary schools and 23 percent of high schools did not comply with those requirements in 2004-05, perhaps because state and federal accountability rules focus on standardized test scores rather than physical fitness.

Related link:

Find the draft framework and instructions for filing comments @ www.cde.ca.gov/ci/pe/cf.