Background/Purpose Due to limited statewide information, four Idaho universities, the Idaho Department of Education, and the Idaho Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance examined key indicators of physical education (PE).
Method The Physical Education Teacher Questionnaire (PETQ) incorporated quality and quantity measures of PE based on the National Association for Sport and Physical Education criteria (NASPE, 2003, 2004; 2007; 2008; 2009), and Physical Education Curriculum Assessment Tool (CDC, 2006). The 36 question PETQ consisted of six global categories and a mixed question format. Out of 618 surveys sent, 285 (46% return rate) teachers reported on K-12th PE from all six state educational regions.
Analysis/Results Findings of concern: (a) insufficient amount of required PE, particularly in high school (32%); (b) minutes/week of PE below NASPE recommendations (K-5th 1% and 6th-12th 19% met standards); (c) lack of formal assessment and student self-assessment across domains of behavior (< 25%); (d) low amount of out of class assignments (47% reported none); (e) grading at mostly junior high and high school levels based on dress (66%) , and (f) physical educators taking part in school wellness policy development (54%). Findings of promise: (a) reasonable class size (M = 22.24±7.47), (b) most teachers were PE specialists (98%), and (c) perceived principal support was mostly positive (97%).
Conclusions PE as a key educational and health program for improving healthy active profiles is warranted. The PETQ provides needed statewide surveillance data to address numerous program and policy concerns in particular the recently adopted PE state standards.
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