BD14752_.GIF (667 bytes) Report Summary
BD14752_.GIF (667 bytes) Background
BD14752_.GIF (667 bytes) Conclusions
BD14752_.GIF (667 bytes) Overall Recommendations
BD14752_.GIF (667 bytes) Abstract

 

 

Physical Education in Navajo Nation Schools
over Five Years: 1998 - 2003*
 
Report Summary
 
Prepared for the Navajo Comprehensive Health Initiative
Physical Activity Component
 
by
 
Thomas L. McKenzie, Ph.D
Department of Exercise and Nutritional Sciences
San Diego State University
 
* This supplement summarizes data from 869 physical education lessons observed in 79 Bureau of Indian Affairs, public, parochial, and BIA grant schools serving students on or near the Navajo Nation from September 1998 until May 2003. Data from 137 lessons in 19 schools in 2002-2003 are combined with those from previous years. The Extended Report consists of 13 text pages, 15 Tables, and 8 Figures

Author's Notes:

The extensive work of Marge Werito, the support and cooperation of data collectors, teachers, and administrators of Navajo Nation Schools, and the statistical contributions of John Turek are gratefully acknowledged.

Correspondence concerning this report should be directed to Thomas L. McKenzie, Ph.D., Department of Exercise and Nutritional Sciences, San Diego State University, ENS 314, San Diego CA 92182-7251. (Phone 619-594-4817; E-mail: tmckenzie@sdsu.edu)
 

October 23, 2003
 
Background:
  School physical education (PE) is the most widely available resource for promoting physical activity among youth. PE teaches important knowledge, movement, and social skills, and provides opportunities for children to participate in physical activity that is needed for immediate and long-term physical fitness and health benefits.
 
Goal:
  This report summarizes data generated by the systematic observation of 869 PE lessons in 79 different schools over five years (1998-2003).
 
Procedure:
  Trained observers classified student activity levels, lesson contexts, and key instructional elements in PE lessons in grades K-8. Teachers reported the frequency and duration of the PE that students received during the previous week. Data were analyzed and compared by year and to national objectives for PE and physical activity (e.g., Healthy People 2010).
 
Lesson Characteristics:
  During 2002-2003, the majority of observed lessons were instructed indoors (90.2%) and taught by PE Specialists (87.6%) and by females (51.4%). Lessons had an average of 19 children. About 74.6% of teachers observed reported receiving some SPARK PE training and about 42.2% of observed lessons were taken directly from SPARK PE texts. About 18% of lessons scheduled for observation were cancelled for various reasons.
 
Main Physical Activity Findings for 2002-2003:
  1 Teachers reported their students averaged of 1.7 of PE lessons per week, and observed lessons were 29.7 minutes in length (total=50.5 minutes per week).
  2 Children engaged in 5.1 minutes of vigorous physical activity (VPA) per lesson (19.6% of lesson time).
  3 Children engaged in 12.3 minutes of moderate vigorous physical activity (MVPA) per lesson (46.6% of lesson time) and an average of 5.7 minutes of each lesson was devoted to fitness activities. These are some of the highest levels achieved during the five years.
  4 Based on the number of PE lessons, children accrued a total of 9.9 VPA minutes and 23.7 MVPA minutes per week in PE.
 
Observed Strengths of the Physical Education Programs (1998-2003):
  1 The small number of students in class permits individualized attention and appropriate group sizes.
  2 Students enjoy the PE lessons.
  3 Teachers are enthusiastic about teaching physical education.
 
General Comparisons to National Recommendations:
  1 The number of PE lessons provided per week (1.7) is less than the five recommended (i.e. daily PE) by Healthy People 2010 and professional organizations.
  2 The proportion of time that children were active during lessons during (46.6%) approaches the 50% recommended by Healthy People 2010.
  3 The weekly amount of physical activity accrued by children in PE (i.e., 24 MVPA minutes) contributes only a small amount of the total activity minutes recommended (i.e., 210 min) for health purposes by Healthy People 2010.
 
Positive Trends over the Five Years:
  1 The proportion of lessons taught by PE Specialists increased (now about 89%).
  2 Lesson MVPA and Vigorous activity minutes were substantially higher during the most recent two years.
  3 Lesson energy expenditure rate and proportion of time in MVPA and Vigorous Activity percent (i.e., lesson intensity) were substantially higher during the most recent two years.
 

 
Conclusions:
  1 Observations of 869 lessons in 79 schools over five years provide substantial information on the conduct of PE in school serving the Navajo Nation. Majority of lessons (71%) were observed in Service Unit 6 (Shiprock), so much less is known about PE in the other seven service units. Observed programs have numerous strengths, and improvements are steadily being made in lesson intensity.
  2 Results suggest that opportunities still exist for increasing the health-related physical activity in PE. A major concern is the limited number of lessons and minutes of PE that children receive per week.
  3 The following recommendations have widespread implications for those responsible for developing and implementing health-related PE programs (e.g., teachers) and those that design, schedule, and conduct staff development programs (e.g., administrators).
 

 
Overall Recommendations:
To enable children to accrue more health-related physical activity in Navajo Nation schools, it is recommended that:
 
  1 Additional PE classes be scheduled and taught.
    Healthy People 2010 recommends that children receive PE daily. Children currently receive fewer than two lessons per week, and about 18%.of scheduled classes are cancelled.
 
  2 On-site administrators take an active role in scheduling and promoting Physical Education.
    Data suggest that supervision and support from on-site administrators is needed for quality PE to be scheduled and taught.
 
  3 Children be provided opportunities to participate in supervised physical activity outside of regularly scheduled PE classes.
    PE alone cannot provide all the physical activity that children need for health purposes. Providing additional structured activity programs before and after school, at recess, and during lunchtime is recommended.
 
  4 PE lessons be designed to be more physically active.
    Healthy People 2010 recommends 50% active time during PE. Getting more teachers to implement an active curriculum would be beneficial.
 
  5 All instructors teaching physical education be thoroughly trained in PE, particularly as it relates to promoting physical activity for health purposes.
    A large number of lessons in some service units are taught by persons, including classroom teachers, who may have little PE training.
 
  6 Additional staff development sessions be provided for teachers.
    Several teachers have received recent PE training and do not use active curricula that are available (e.g., SPARK). The data suggest that teachers who participated in SPARK training and use lessons directly from SPARK materials provide students with more physical activity and improved lesson contexts.
 
 

Abstract
 
Regular physical activity provides both immediate and long-term health benefits, including helping to control for obesity and Type II diabetes. School physical education (PE) is the most widely available resource for promoting physical activity among children. This report (a) summarizes the conduct of PE observed in 22 Navajo Nation schools during 2002-2003 (Year 5) and (b) combines these findings with data from lessons observed in 1998-2002. Included are results from a total of 869 lessons in 6 Service Units and 79 schools over five years.

Trained observers visited schools and coded student activity, lesson context, and key instructional elements during PE lessons in grades K-8. Observers also briefly interviewed teachers about the amount of PE that their students received.

Most observed lessons during Year 5 were conducted indoors (90.2%) and by PE Specialists (88%). Teachers reported providing an average of 1.7 lessons per week for a total of 61.9 minutes of PE. Observed lessons averaged 29.7 minutes in length and had an average of 19 children (SD=4.8) in them. Most lessons during Year 5 (89%) were from Service Unit Six (Shiprock), as were 53% of the lessons in Year 1, 55% in Year 2, 91% in Year 3, and 79% in Year 4. Thus, a separate analysis was run for Unit Six (see Tables 13-15).

During Year 5, children engaged in 5.1 minutes of vigorous physical activity (VPA) per lesson (19.6% of lesson time) and in 12.3 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) (46.6% of lesson time). National recommendations are 50% MVPA time during PE (HP 2010). Based on the number of lessons reported, the average student accrued 13.3 vigorous activity minutes and 26.9 MVPA minutes per week during PE. Lessons provided per week (1.7) remain lower than the five (i.e., daily) recommended by national authorities. However, Year 5 data showed a marked increase in observed lesson length compared to Year 4 (29.7) vs. 25.6 min per lesson). Approximately 76% of lessons during Years 3-5 were taught by teachers who had some SPARK training, and at least a part of 63% of lessons were reported to be from the SPARK texts.

Five years of data indicate strengths of the PE programs on the Navajo Nation include: (1) a reasonable number of students in class (average 16-19), (2) appropriate group sizes, (3) enthusiastic teachers, and (4) lessons that students enjoy.

Improvements during recent years showed: (1) Increased proportions of lesson time being spent in vigorous and moderate-to-vigorous and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, (2) fewer lessons being cancelled (from 17-26% to 12-14%), (3) more lessons including a cool-down segment, a safety consideration, and (4) ratings on 5 of 8 observed lesson characteristics remaining consistently high.

The data also indicate that opportunities still exist for increasing the health-related physical activity of children during PE. The findings have implications for both teachers responsible for developing and implementing PE programs and for administrators responsible for allocating the time and resources for PE and for designing and conducting additional staff development programs.

Physical activity could be increased by offering PE classes more frequently, teachers adhering to established schedules, and by the redesign/selection of PE curricula that provide lessons with more vigorous activity. The data suggest that additional support by district and school administrators is needed to ensure that PE is scheduled, taught, and of high quality. Additional staff development and administrative supervision might also ensure teachers of PE use validated curricula.