No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine teacher change within the context of reform-based teacher development, and to identify factors that supported or impeded physical education teachers to make changes to improve their physical education programs. This study explores the experiences of five of twelve physical education teachers participating in the Assessment Initiative for Middle School Physical Education (AIMS-PE). Participants included teachers, students, principals and assigned project researchers from three schools. Data included interviews, school artifacts, and descriptive field notes from observations. Interview transcripts and field notes were analyzed using open, axial, and selective coding (Strauss & Corbin, 1998). Results indicated that through their participation in the project, teachers successfully made changes to their teaching approaches, use of materials and assessment practices. Three patterns of change were prominent in the teachers' experiences: (a) increased planning and more efficient organization and management, (b) improved alignment of instruction processes and instructional assessments, and (c) a shift in teacher roles characterized by letting go of control to facilitate student oriented small-sided games and student peer assessments. Factors supporting and impeding teachers' abilities to adapt project materials to their own school context included peer and institutional support, interactions with other teachers, opportunities to socially construct knowledge, sufficient time, and student reaction. Teachers identified that mentor support and project workshop sessions generally were an effective catalyst for change, and that hands-on training in the construction of assessment tools and assistance in the management of assessment were essential during planning and implementation. For these five teachers, change involved risk taking and often appeared messy in the early stages as they departed from what they knew well to try new practices and strategies. Results suggest that it is important for teacher development efforts aimed at changing current physical education to create opportunities for teachers to participate in programs with the intensity, multiple resources, and ongoing support necessary to address the multiple demands expected of teachers by contemporary reform agendas.

Physical Education (PE) has become an increasingly complex learning environment. Prior research emphasized the propitious role of PE in teaching personal and social responsibility, skills, physical activity, and health. The purpose of this thesis was to explore the integration of Social Emotional Learning (SEL; CASEL, 2020) concepts and activities through mainstream PE classes, which utilized the teaching personal and social responsibility (TPSR; Hellison, 2011) framework, national and state standards, and an established school curriculum. The study aimed to examine the effect of intentionally implementing SEL in PE from a practitioner perspective and gathered feedback from students about the effect and class design. Teacher Action Research (Pine, 2009) was conducted over one semester, in which twenty-four lessons were implemented in an 8th-grade class in a Boston area public middle school. This period of adolescent development is often considered a complex and challenging time due to a combination of complex, overlapping determinants (Hall, 1904). Observations were made, student voices provided feedback and input on the class design, and additional sources of qualitative data were collected and triangulated for rigor. The findings of this study shed light on the inclusion of SEL in PE classes, identifying mechanisms for facilitating their delivery and promoting meaningful engagement among students. The research also provided valuable insights into student development, personal growth, and refined methods of practice for the researcher. Through intentional integration of SEL in PE, this study contributes to the development of more inclusive and meaningful experiences for all students, aligning with the goal of fostering physically literate individuals who possess the knowledge, skills, and confidence to enjoy a lifetime of healthful physical activity. The insights provide a foundation for further exploration of SEL implementation in PE settings and offer practical implications for physical education teachers and coaches seeking to enhance their curriculum and support students' holistic development.

The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of school and college physical education personnel concerning their participation in a school/college collaboration. The participants were asked to describe the initiation processes and activities of the partnership. Particular emphases was directed toward the participants' sense of ownership in the project. The study was accomplished by examining the perceptions of 24 school and college physical educators (15 public/private school teachers and 9 college representatives) involved in eight different collaborative projects. Semi-structured interview questions were grouped into categories derived from a review of literature which focused on collaboration between school practitioners and college faculty members. These included (a) the impact of perceived status differences among participants, (b) the negotiation of decision making processes, (c) participants' perceptions of project ownership, and (d) the consequences of inititation as a factor in project development. Data from the interviews were used to describe the multiple realities which exist when physical education teachers and college faculty members collaborate. Analysis of the data indicates that: (a) status differences were recognized among all participants, but this recognition did not interfere with decision making processes or feelings of ownership, (b) differing perceptions of project ownership, research priorities, and the ensuing benefits clearly reveal the multiple realities which exist in school/college projects, (c) teachers' viewpoints primarily focused on personal responses to events while college personnel focused on institutional ramifications, and (d) most participants paid little or no attention to the particular details of the initiation process.

Throughout the professional literature in physical education there is considerable rhetoric about the need to recruit and maintain the support of parents. Among those who teach a vulnerable and sometimes marginal special subject, there is a widely held belief that parental approval and support matters a great deal, in fact, that parental dispositions are critical to the future of the subject in the public schools. Despite this article of professional faith, there are few studies that describe the attitudes of parents about physical education. None of those employed the strategy of probing the communication of program information and subsequent parental responses to program operation at a single site--that is, rich case analyses simply are not available. The purpose of this study was to describe parents' perceptions of and attitudinal dispositions toward a physical education program at a single public school site. The primary sources of data were (a) a parent background questionnaire; (b) open-ended interviews with participants (27 parents of fifth grade children, the physical education teacher who taught those children, nine classroom teachers at the same school, and the principal); and (c) observations at the site. Results indicated that many parents possessed inaccurate information about the physical program--information that typically was acquired from their children. Few parents attempted to obtain information from other sources. Further, all parents drew on their own, often negative, recollections of gym classes when describing perceptions of and dispositions toward their child's program. Although anxious to obtain parental support, the teacher did not attempt either to communicate more than minimal information about the program, or to solicit more than trivial forms of parental support and cooperation. Her strong sense of the importance of teacher autonomy, and school norms restricting parental participation in educational matters, appeared to limit her efforts to improve relations with parents. This study concludes with a discussion of the communication process between the physical education teacher and the parents, and a comparison of that with what occurred between the classroom teachers and parents. This is followed by implications for both teacher preparation and school practice.

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No description available.