We are all familiar with NCLB and the ever-growing need to "teach to the test." Most schools have dedicated additional class time to ensure their students gain higher scores and they avoid being labeled "failing schools." As a result, time devoted to electives such as art, music and P.E. plummeted.
"The thing in education is: What gets measured is what gets done," says Ginny Ehrlich, the executive director of the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, a non-profit organization working to battle child obesity. (read more at full article) We at ExerLearning and FootGaming have decades of experience with that dilemma. There is only so much time in a day. Our solution is to use technology to simultaneously deliver the physical activity our students (and teachers) need and want along with the learning outcomes currently being measured. ExerLearning can do exactly that.
In 44 states, a PE Mandate has been made. It requires 150-225 physical activity minutes every WEEK. That would be considerable progress, except that virtually nobody can meet the mandate demand because the states are provided no additional funding. So, it's a mandate in name only.
What are the repercussions if a school or District does not meet the PE Mandate? "None," says Dr. Toni Yancey, a professor in the UCLA School of Public Health and an expert in the area of physical activity among kids. "… If a school doesn't improve, if it's below average in its reading tests scores or its math test scores, then there are consequences for that school. They may be put on probation. They may have the state come in and take over -- lots of things they don't want to happen. If they don't adhere to the number of minutes for P.E., there are no consequences."
Conceivably, that could change soon. Last week, several members of Congress called for passage of the FIT Kids Act, a bill that would amend NCLB to add P.E. as a core subject and require schools to report on the state of their programs. Although there still would be no tangible repercussions for not making progress, advocates of the bill say accountability should put pressure on schools to improve.
Still, nobody is identifying where the money would come from to do things like increase time, decrease ballooning class sizes and ensure that elementary school teachers are credentialed to teach P.E. We offer the ExerLearning opportunity. Please check our teacher resources at Footgaming.com to see how something as easy as plugging a new type of peripheral in to a computer can be one solution for adding 10-30 activity minutes per student per day – at exactly the same time and at the same place that computer-delivered learning occurs already.
"The thing in education is: What gets measured is what gets done," says Ginny Ehrlich, the executive director of the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, a non-profit organization working to battle child obesity. (read more at full article) We at ExerLearning and FootGaming have decades of experience with that dilemma. There is only so much time in a day. Our solution is to use technology to simultaneously deliver the physical activity our students (and teachers) need and want along with the learning outcomes currently being measured. ExerLearning can do exactly that.
In 44 states, a PE Mandate has been made. It requires 150-225 physical activity minutes every WEEK. That would be considerable progress, except that virtually nobody can meet the mandate demand because the states are provided no additional funding. So, it's a mandate in name only.
What are the repercussions if a school or District does not meet the PE Mandate? "None," says Dr. Toni Yancey, a professor in the UCLA School of Public Health and an expert in the area of physical activity among kids. "… If a school doesn't improve, if it's below average in its reading tests scores or its math test scores, then there are consequences for that school. They may be put on probation. They may have the state come in and take over -- lots of things they don't want to happen. If they don't adhere to the number of minutes for P.E., there are no consequences."
Conceivably, that could change soon. Last week, several members of Congress called for passage of the FIT Kids Act, a bill that would amend NCLB to add P.E. as a core subject and require schools to report on the state of their programs. Although there still would be no tangible repercussions for not making progress, advocates of the bill say accountability should put pressure on schools to improve.
Still, nobody is identifying where the money would come from to do things like increase time, decrease ballooning class sizes and ensure that elementary school teachers are credentialed to teach P.E. We offer the ExerLearning opportunity. Please check our teacher resources at Footgaming.com to see how something as easy as plugging a new type of peripheral in to a computer can be one solution for adding 10-30 activity minutes per student per day – at exactly the same time and at the same place that computer-delivered learning occurs already.
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