Primary objective: Teacher evaluation is being revamped by policy-makers. The marginalized status of physical education has protected this subject area from reform for many decades, but in our current era of system-wide, data-based decision-making, physical education is no longer immune. Standardized and local testing, together with structured observation measures, are swiftly being mandated in the USA as required elements of teacher evaluation systems in an effort to improve school programs and student achievement. The purpose of this investigation was to document how this reform was initiated and the experiences of teachers, students and administrators, from three high school physical education programs, during initiation of this reform. Documenting how physical education programs respond to such reforms develops our understanding of top-down reform efforts and helps to identify conditions under which such reforms have the intended effect on physical education teachers and student learning in physical education.
Theoretical framework: Fullan’s three phases of school change has been used to analyze and guide school change efforts in several subject areas including physical education. The phases are initiation, implementation and institutionalization. This study is situated primarily within the first phase of school change, the initiation phase.
Methods and procedures: This study took place over a 21-month period in 3 suburban school districts in a northeast metropolitan area of the USA. Interviews with district physical education administrators, high school physical education teachers and students were conducted. Field notes of physical education classes, informal interviews and related artifacts including pre- and post-physical education assessments were collected. To ensure trustworthiness, several steps were taken including member checks, triangulation and peer review. The data were analyzed to find common themes and patterns using the constant comparative method.
Results: Several themes emerged: (1) changes in curriculum and assessment; (2) effect on administrators; (3) stakeholder apathy and (4) department collaboration.
Conclusion: Changes, although minor, did take place in the wake of this top-down teacher reform; however, additional research needs to be completed to determine whether or not these changes are meaningful or long lasting. 相似文献
AbstractResearch on how human balance and control bicycles are inconclusive, largely due to the small number of participants in the previous studies. Therefore, the aim of this study was to test the hypotheses that 1) cycling lateral deviation amplitude will reliably show differences between more and less experienced cyclists and 2) more experienced will exhibit slower and smaller steering motions compared to the less experienced cyclists. Twenty-eight experienced and inexperienced cyclists rode a bicycle in a straight line. Lateral deviation, steering and roll were measured. Intersession reliability of the deviation was high with Cronbach’s alpha values higher than 0.75. The amplitude, variability and rate of steering and roll parameters showed statistically significant differences between the groups. The test used in this study is sensitive to detect differences between more and less experienced cyclists and can be used for further research that aims to test the effect of a specific intervention addressing rider control. We also showed that steering and roll angle, which were described before as two of the main motor control actions in bicycle control, differ in the variability, amplitude and rate between more and less experienced cyclists. The results of the present study have practical implications for improving bicycle rider control and increasing the safety of cyclists. 相似文献
The aim of this study is to determine changes in sedentary behaviour in response to extensive aerobic exercise training. Participants included adults who self-selected to run a marathon. Sedentary behaviour, total activity counts and physical activity (PA) intensity were assessed (Actigraph GT3X) for seven consecutive days during seven assessment periods (?3, ?2, and ?1 month prior to the marathon, within 2 weeks of the marathon, and +1, +2, and +3 months after the marathon). Models were fitted with multiple imputation data using the STATA mi module. Random intercept generalized least squares (GLS) regression models were used to determine change in sedentary behaviour with seven waves of repeated measures. Results: Twenty-three individuals (mean?±?Sx: 34.4?±?2.1y, 23.0?±?1.9% fat, 15 women, 8 men) completed the study. Marathon finishing times ranged from 185 to 344 minutes (253.2?±?9.6 minutes). Total counts in the vertical axis were 1,729,414 lower one month after the race, compared with two months prior to the race (peak training). Furthermore, counts per minute decreased by 252.7 counts·minute?1 during that same time period. Daily sedentary behaviour did not change over the seven assessment periods, after accounting for age, gender, per cent body fat, wear time, marathon finishing time, and previous marathon experience. This prospective study supports the notion that PA and sedentary behaviours are distinct, showing that sedentary behaviour was not impacted by high levels of aerobic training. 相似文献