Author: Judy LoBianco

The Revision of the National Health Education and Physical Education Standards: An Administrative Perspective

As we begin a new year, the Society of Health and Physical Educators (SHAPE America) continues to engage two national task forces to revise the national standards in health and physical education and I consider this work to be critical to the future of our profession. In regularly reviewing and revising our standards, we make certain that we include the latest research, hands-on teacher experiences, and best instructional practices from the field. Additionally, it allows us to continue to take a critical look at how our society and education have evolved around the essential work of student wellness in our schools.

In recent years, I served at my state level on our standards review team and found the work to be invaluable in serving the needs of every student. We made a lasting commitment to forging forward with progressive and responsive core ideas and disciplinary practices that speak to every community in my diverse state of New Jersey.  This is the task ahead for the national revision. In order to serve the needs of our young people across the nation, SHAPE America has the momentous responsibility of building national standards that echo the voice of every child in America.

I believe that this significant task means incorporating the very latest research on the critical and essential skills of physical movement in physical education and a focus on skill-based health education to foster a classroom of inquiry-based instruction.  We must incorporate the ability of students to contribute to and create a learning environment where they can thrive, grow and learn. Our future standards must reflect that student-focused approach.

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How Health and Physical Education Have Evolved: Teaching Children from the Inside-Out

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[2 Minute Read]

As I’ve visited with many administrators and teachers across the country this past year, it has been fascinating to hear the stories of the many ways our profession has changed since the beginning of the COVID 19 Pandemic. It’s been transformative to see the ways we, as educators, have changed. Among the narratives that have made headlines in education around the past year, one continues to rise to the top as the way we will forever remember this transformation: We must teach children from the inside-out.

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The health. moves. minds™ Program: Transforming School Culture Through SEL in HPE

Research has informed us that schools that embrace the whole child establish a foundation for academic success, improved school attendance, and a decline in disruptive behaviors among students. These gains are made possible with a specific focus on the unique role that quality skills-based health education and physical education play in a school setting.

It is a very exciting time in health and physical education. After decades of trying to find our place in the educational landscape as a subject area that has been marginalized as a “special” or a “related art,” we are now taking our seat at the table as genuine contributors to our most critical educational questions. One such question is, “How do schools embrace the whole child while maintaining academic rigor and results?” Many believe there are times when we must sacrifice one for the other and that is simply untrue. A commitment to social and emotional learning comes with the understanding that we teach children before content — in all grade levels, at all times.

(Photo by Staff Sgt. Jason Colbert)

A New Era
The coronavirus pandemic has catapulted us to a moment in our history that will forever define the way we approach education. What we’ve learned, unequivocally, is that to nurture the social-emotional needs and mental health of school-aged children will be critical as we move into what will be the new normal for our nation’s schools. As we struggle with traditional conversations around later start times for high schools, less or no homework, responsive classrooms, restorative practices, additional counselors, and other academic supports, it is imperative that we remain loyal to what is happening on the inside of each child. The physical and mental health of each student will be at the forefront of learning. It has been and will be, as critical to their academic success as any other instructional activity happening in our schools.

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