Georgia Perfromance Standards

862 Words2 Pages

Physical Education is integral to the comprehensive education of every child. Quality programs meet a student’s developmental needs and improve physical fitness and academic performance. Georgia’s Performance Standards for Physical Education are based on the National Physical Education Standards developed by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE). These standards reflect skills a physically educated student should know. The standards do not define a specific curriculum but provide guidance for a sequential, developmentally appropriate curriculum (Physical Education Standards). Statewide implementation of these standards began during the 2010-2011 school year. However there have been obstacles in carrying out full compliance. While Georgia seems to be implementing standards adequately for some students (specifically elementary students), middle school and high school have little state mandate. Georgia policy requires 30 minutes of activity a day or 90 hours of health and physical education throughout the elementary school year. However, there is no mandate for middle school students, the only requirement is that physical education classes are to be made available (National Association of State Boards of Education, 2013) Consequently in high school the one unit credit required for graduation can be substituted with participation in ROTC (Do Ga. kids get enough physcial education?, 2013). Furthermore, the Fitnessgram, which has been implemented to follow the progress of physical activity and fitness in Georgia, only tests students enrolled in a physical education classes and taught by a certified physical education teacher (McGuire, 2012). Potentially the policy and test leaves out a significant... ... middle of paper ... ..._schools/hs/state.php?state=Georgia# Kohl, H., & Cook, H. D. (2013). Educating the student body: Taking physcial actvity and physcial education to school. National Research Council. Washington: National Academies Press. McGuire, T. (2012, October). Georgia department of education annual fitness assessment report. Retrieved from GaDOE: http://www.gadoe.org/Curriculum-Instruction-and-Assessment/Curriculum-and-Instruction/Documents/Georgia%20Annual%20Fitness%20Assessment%20Report%202012.pdf Physical education standards. (n.d.). Retrieved December 5, 2013, from Georgia Standards: https://www.georgiastandards.org/standards/GPS%20Support%20Docs/Physical_Education_Standards_4-30-09.pdf Suggs, C. (2013, November 6). Cutting class to make end meet. Retrieved from Georgia Budget and Policy Institue: http://gbpi.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Cutting-Class-to-Make-Ends-Meet.pdf

Open Document