Assessing Physical Education in Friendship

Friendship teachers Brad Gertis and Deb Warner spent the start of July exploring their curriculum thorough the lens of the New York State Physical Education Standards and assessment. Utilizing resources from NYSED related to the updated PE Learning Standards, they reviewed their district curriculum examining ways to better enhance instruction and assessment in the PE department at Friendship.

One of the resources they used was the Physical Education Curriculum Analysis Tool or PECAT, which is a self-assessment tool for planning and guiding curriculum for PE. The PECAT is designed to help school districts and schools conduct clear, complete, and consistent analyses of physical education curricula based on physical education standards.
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Specifically, the PECAT accomplishes the following:

• Assesses how closely physical education curricula align with standards for physical education.
• Analyzes outcomes, content, and assessment components of a curriculum that correspond to standards for physical education for three grade levels: K–5, 6–8, and 9–12.
• Helps school districts or individual schools identify changes needed in locally developed curricula.
• Helps school districts or individual schools use the PECAT to develop a physical education curriculum.

The curriculum component of the PECAT underscores the need for school districts and schools to establish a written physical education curriculum that identifies the content to be taught, guides appropriate instruction that supports the curriculum, and identifies student assessments that will provide evidence of student learning. Creating a well-designed, standards-based physical education curriculum will help ensure equitable physical education for all students, and that is the focus of the PE dept at Friendship Central School and why they are committed to this work.

By: Rob Griffith, Coordinator for Curriculum and Professional Development