Despite skyrocketing childhood obesity rates and calls from Congress, the Surgeon General and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for high quality daily physical education programs, most states receive a failing grade on their physical education requirements. Those are the findings of the latest Shape of the Nation Report: Status of Physical Education in the USA, released today by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) and the American Heart Association (AHA).
According to NASPE President Jacalyn Lund of Georgia State University, “This report shows that state physical education requirements are extremely weak. Furthermore, a vast array of 'loopholes' such as exemptions, waivers and on-line physical education classes too often eradicate those minimal standards at the local level at a time when more and more children are obese or at risk of obesity.”
Physical education is a planned instructional program with specific objectives. An essential part of the total curriculum, physical education programs increase the physical competence, health-related fitness, self- responsibility, and enjoyment of physical activity for all students so that they can establish physical activity as a natural part of everyday life.
“Unbeknownst to many policymakers, the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 is threatening the amount of time available for physical education,” said NASPE Executive Director Charlene R. Burgeson. “NCLB focuses on student achievement in defined core academic subjects. As states develop or select standardized tests to hold schools and students accountable, content that is not tested, such as physical education, has become a lower priority.”
