Determining the Quality of Physical Education Programs in Selected Virginia Schools

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which the selected school districts in the Commonwealth of Virginia were following the Virginia school mandates and fulfilling the requirements identified by NASPE and AHA, as critical elements required in a quality physical education program and the NASPE national recommendations. The population for this study was 116 physical education teachers in the Virginia counties of Carroll, Floyd, Giles, Pulaski, Roanoke, Wythe, and the City of Radford. The evaluation criteria used for the study was influenced by the 2006 Shape of the Nation Report. The instrument used was a web-based survey that consisted of 21 questions in the areas of demographics, time requirements, class size, standards and curriculum, student assessment and program accountability, and school accountability. The following conclusions were drawn: (1) The school districts followed the Virginia school mandates and overall are implementing the national recommendations; (2) The school districts varied in following the Virginia school mandates and implementing the national recommendations; (3) Even though the schools varied at different grade levels in the same school district, the degree of disparity was slight; (4) The originally introduced Senate Bill 1130 needs to be signed into law as opposed to the less stringent Senate Bill 1130 that was passed; (5) The Virginia school mandates need to include time requirements for daily physical education for all students K-12; (6) The school districts need to focus on promoting quality physical education programs at all grades and in all areas that were evaluated in the study. The following recommendations were suggested: (1) Further studies on schools that offer quality physical education programs and the affects these "quality" physical education programs have on reducing the percentage of overweight or obese children; (2) Studies of other school districts in the Commonwealth of Virginia and how they compare in following state mandates, and implementing the national recommendations; (3) School districts performing their own audits of their present physical education programs to determine the quality of their programs.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph. D.

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Curriculum and Instruction

Department dc:contributor.department

Learning Sciences and Technologies

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• Perry, Shirley Ann

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Redican, Kerry J.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Fortune, Jimmie C.
• Doolittle, Peter E.
• Zeakes, Beverly
• Potter, Kenneth R.

• Quality Physical Education Programs
• Virginia School Mandates
• Childhood Obesity
• National Recommendations

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Dc Identifier Other

etd-09122007-160457

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/28953