Standards for Physical Education

The National Standards for Physical Education are written to ensure physical literacy. These standards do not focus solely on the physical demand or ability of an individual. Each standard relies on physical literacy which incorporates 3 domains of learning: psychomotor, cognitive and affective. In addition, the standards are there to provide physical competency to include motivation, attitude, psychological and social skills. The standards are developed to guide educators in the teaching process to ensure that children take part in their physical education as well as develop an understanding of the importance of physical activity to build upon through years to becoming or maintaining a healthy lifestyle later in life.

Physical education standards are the foundation for teaching physical education in the public school. Standards are meant to guide planning, aid in the implementation of skills and guide assessment. In addition, standards ensure teacher and student accountability, and are used as a tool to focus on learning expectations and outcomes. The standards are written so that all students regardless of race, socio-economic status, gender, experiences, or opportunities can succeed according to Every Student Succeeds Act. The standards are written with respect to grade-level bands K-5, 6-8, and 9-12. Within each band specific grade-level specific outcomes are written to ensure skills, activities, and expectations are developmentally and age appropriate.

The National standards are the basis for the Arizona state standards. National standards use broad terminology with specific learning outcomes described in detail. As of 2015, AZ adopted the National Standards for Physical Education. These standards make it possible to ensure all individuals have the same opportunity for achieving a lifelong healthy lifestyle. In addition, the standards aide in curriculum writing which lead to ensuring that learning outcomes are followed, assessed and adapted to the individual student. These standards outline the expectations of what a student should know and be able to do based on their development and age. The state standards are broken down by performance indicators throughout to assess the individual using the following criteria: E-emerging, M-maturing, and A-applying to show competency. Each indicator is based on developmentally appropriate tasks. As an example, a kindergarten through second grade skill may be hopping. A kindergartener may be at the emerging stage, a first graded at the maturing stage and finally when making it to second grade the student would be most competent on the skill and reach the applying stage. Dependent upon the individualr's ability, exposure, and desire they may reach different milestones at varying stages due to individual differences, the standards help assess this.

Knowing the standards and the specific learning outcomes will aid in becoming highly qualified physical education teacher. The breakdown for specific grade-level and developmentally appropriate outcomes will be used to guide instruction. It will also aid in knowing if there is an opportunity or need to expand the expectations for specific students or if remediation is required.

Standards provide students with highly qualified educators that can ensure an unbiased, quality and equitable educational experience that promotes a healthy lifestyle for all individuals now and in the future.

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