Sarah Doolittle

Assessing Student Achievement in Physical Education for Teacher Evaluation

While many teachers continue to ignore the practice of assessing student achievement in physical education, recent federal pressures to include student assessment data in teacher evaluation systems has shown that assessment of student outcomes is here to stay. Though there is a strong tradition of assessing teacher practice in physical education, standardized measures of student achievement and the requirement to show data on student learning in physical education are relatively new ideas. This article reviews issues about using student achievement data to evaluate physical education teachers. It also presents examples of assessments that could be used to document student achievement for the purpose of teacher evaluation.

A Collaboration for Health and Physical Education in High-Need Schools and Communities

JOPERD • Volume 80 No. 7 • September 2009 T eacher education programs have a long history of producing excellent health and physical education (HPE) teachers for suburban school districts. But graduates who found themselves teaching in high-need schools complained that their teacher education program simply did not prepare them for low-income school districts, schools, and students. Their first year was too often spent trying to survive large classes, outdated facilities, insufficient equipment, dysfunctional curricula, intimidating students, unhelpful colleagues, and unsupportive administrators. Traditional teacher education programs focusing on effective teaching for fitness and motor skill acquisition seem almost irrelevant in the context of high-need schools and the lives of low-income and minority students. This article is directed primarily to teacher educators interested in improving HPE teaching and programs for students in high-need schools, whether they are located in urban centers or in suburban areas. The purpose of this article is to describe why and how one group of HPE teacher educators is addressing this need.

Moving toward Integration of CSPAP in a Highly Regulated PETE Context

Physical education teacher education (PETE) programs are often driven in large part by the external demands of state and national accreditation, such as standardized teacher certification exams. Furthermore, the state of New York requires that practicing teachers be evaluated each year through structured observations, together with quantitative evidence of standards-based learning from pre-and post-test growth measures. Neither public health goals nor comprehensive school physical activity program (CSPAP) program development are a part of this accountability system. Thus, the PETE program at Adelphi University must retain a focus on the existing PETE standards and accountability until those expectations are aligned with CSPAP. Nevertheless, the value of CSPAPs in schools is clear, and Adelphi has been moving toward a CSPAP-based program sensibility for the next generation of physical educators. This article describes how pedagogy faculty are reframing the role of physical education in schools and redefining responsibilities for physical education teachers, while still continuing to stress the content and pedagogy which the program and students are accountable for.

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.

Experiences of teacher evaluation systems on high school physical education programs

ABSTRACT Primary 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.