WILL PHYSICAL EDUCATION SURVIVE IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT?

Physical Education programs have been on the decline for decades. The implementation of the 2001 No Child Left Behind legislation added new impetus to the deterioration of the programs. “Political and economic pressures on education systems to improve standardized test scores have had the unintended consequence of reducing or elimination physical education curricula” (Kohl III, Cook, 2013). In the very near future, students at the secondary level may no longer have to take a physical education course as a requirement for graduation. Requirements in some districts have been minimized to accommodate the schools in those districts that have been forced to narrow the school curriculum to address the mandated assessments and the student preparation for those assessments. Physical education requirements at the elementary level are often dictated by the philosophy of the specific school districtandmany school districts do not provide a physical education teacher at the elementary level. In addition to the minimization of the physical education programs, the physical education curriculum and instruction in many schools lacks rigor and proven instructional strategies. It may be realistic to assume that physical education will never be a viable part of the curriculum in the public school system again. This position paper will explore the justification of the physical education program in the schools and discuss some of the problems associated with the implementation of physical education at the elementary and secondary levels.