Oregon’s PE Push

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boygirlplayFrom Your Health Journal…..A great article by Susan Nielsen in the Oregonian entitled Oregon’s big plan for PE greatness takes a back seat. In 2007, concerned over childhood obesity, Oregon wanted to become a national leader in physical education. Oregon’s lack of progress on its ambitious PE goals, evident in new state data, is one more sign of the widening gap between the state’s aspirations and its capacity to deliver on them. But, everything seemed to stall, and PE did not get’s it due. The average elementary-school student in Oregon got only about 70 minutes of PE a week last school year, or less than 15 minutes a day, less than the state mandate of 150 weekly minutes for their age group. Middle schoolers fared better at about 144 minutes per week on average, but fell short of the future 225-minute weekly mandate for students their age. Sadly, instead of increasing PE time, many district cut it out of the curriculum. This was a very interesting article, and I wanted to share it with all of you and promote it here. Please visit the Oregonian web site (link provided below) to view the complete article.”

From the article…..

In 2007, driven by concerns over childhood obesity, Oregon vowed to become a national leader in physical education. The apparent plan to meet that goal is to run furiously in place.

Oregon’s lack of progress on its ambitious PE goals, evident in new state data, is one more sign of the widening gap between the state’s aspirations and its capacity to deliver on them.

“The failure to move the dial on PE,” says Otto Schell, legislative advocate for the Oregon PTA, “is symptomatic of a lot of things.”

The Legislature passed a sweeping PE law in 2007 that would, by 2017, require K-8 students to dramatically increase their time spent exercising at school. Though the mandate came with minimal money attached, the rationale was that with a decade’s notice, school districts could hire the PE teachers, find the indoor exercise space and get students moving.

The idea sounded great by itself, says Mark Mulvihill, a superintendent from eastern Oregon who sits on the state education investment board. The trouble at the local level comes when new ideas join a growing pile of other big ideas without clear plans to implement or pay for them.

Today, school districts squeezed by inadequate funding and rising pension costs have made no progress toward their deadline. According to data finalized last week by the Oregon Department of Education, the average elementary-school student in Oregon got only about 70 minutes of PE a week last school year, or less than 15 minutes a day. That’s less than half the coming state mandate of 150 weekly minutes for their age group.

Middle schoolers fared better at about 144 minutes per week on average, but they still fell short of the future 225-minute weekly mandate for students their age.

Quantity of PE isn’t the only problem. So is quality, says the state in its latest PE progress report. Many districts have cut PE teachers from their elementary schools, requiring regular classroom teachers to teach PE (to large classes, along with their other duties) without the needed equipment or training.

To read the complete article…..Click here