The idea is to give them minimal competencies to increase the chances that they'll want to recreate as adults and have a health-enhancing lifestyle throughout the life span. We have students set individual goals, not compare themselves to someone else. For individuals with a disability, we adapt the program to their abilities. The idea is to help each student reach his or her potential. And remember that students are assessed in the cognitive and psycho-social domains in addition to the motor or movement domain.
Parental involvement is critical.
We're working hard on not only advocating for physical education, but also getting parents involved in PE with their child at home. If the attitudes and behaviors are not modeled at home, it's difficult for the PE teacher to get the point across. Also, if parents don't understand what's going on in physical education, it's really hard to get support for your program. We work a lot with our preservice teachers on how to advocate for their program. One of the most cost-effective interventions is a sound physical education program.