Starting next school year, physical education classes in Louisiana public schools will put a greater emphasis on getting students moving. State Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley says educators and stakeholders developed the revised standards which will focus on fundamental movement skills students can use to stay active long after graduation.
“They bolster the idea of lifetime fitness and lifetime health, and I think it will go a long way in helping to combat issues like obesity and diabetes and heart health,” Brumley said.
Brumley says the old standards asked students to identify or name a skill. The new standards require them to actually demonstrate those skills.
“In the old expectations for P.E., students just might learn about something. They might learn what it looks like to climb, or what does it mean to throw or to squat or to jump. With the new standards, there’s the expectation that they actually have to do it,” Brumley explained.
Brumley says the skills will build on one another from kindergarten through 12th grade. He says the new standards are designed not only to get students involved in physical activity, but also to help them understand the benefits, including better health and social relationships.
“It’s going to help them understand the benefits of those activities; for their physical health, for their mental health, for their social relationships,” Brumley noted.
For more information on the new standards, go to doe.louisiana.gov.