Principals’ Physical Education Perception in New York City Public School

1. Principals’ Physical Education Perception in New York City Public School Howard Z. Zeng Brooklyn College of the City University of New York

2. INTRDUCTION Researchers in school effectiveness reform studies (Graham, Holt/Hale & Parker, 2009; Grocholewicz, 2007) have identified principals in all school levels are the most influential figures to make decisions on how their schools program would be reformed and operated. AAHPERD 2011National Convention – SanDiago, CA

3. Cont. • Like other disciplines, physical education (PE) programs in urban schools are also under the administration of principals. • For over two decades, researchers have realized and emphasized that PE plays a vital role in our education system(Sallis, & McKenzie, 1991; Sallis, McKenzie, & Alcaraz, 1993; U.S. DHHS, 2004; Zoeller, 2007) AAHPERD 2011National Convention – SanDiago, CA

4. Cont. • Participation in regular physical activity (PA) effectively reduces the risk of premature mortality, coronary heart disease, hypertension, colon cancer, and diabetes(Coakley, 2004; Warburton, Nicol, & Bredin, 2006; Zoeller, 2007).

5. Cont. • PE plays such important role in our society as health costs are at all time high and people are living longer. • Studies showed that lack of PA among people of all ages is extremely serious and regarded as a major health risk issue -- (Blair, & Church, 2004; Johnson, 2008; U.S. DHHS, 2004; Zoeller, 2007). AAHPERD 2011National Convention – SanDiago, CA

6. Purposes • The purposes of this study were to obtain insights into principals’ physical education (PE) perception and provide meaningful feedback for reforming their PE programs in their school districts. AAHPERD 2011National Convention – SanDiago, CA

7. Methods Participants were 46 principals (23 from elementary school; and 23 from secondary school) from public schools in New York City. AAHPERD 2011National Convention – SanDiago, CA

8. Cont. Principal’s perception of PE Questionnaire (PPPEQ, Zeng, 2008), consists of sixteen statements, concerning ‘Features of PE’, ‘Function of PE’, ‘Challenges School PE Facing’, etc., was employed. AAHPERD 2011National Convention – SanDiago, CA

9. Cont. • For each statement, participant can choose ‘Agree’ (score 3), ‘Disagree’ (score 1), or ‘No comment’ (score 2). • Data analyzing methods included descriptive statisticsand correlation.

10. Results/Analysis • Results showed: the top five statements that strongly structured the principals’ PE perception were Item 2, 1, 6, and 16.

11. Cont. E.g., Item 2, “We can activate and foster the physical activity skills children need through our school PE programs”, M = 2.978. Item 11, “Once PE and daily physical activities are valued and supported, children will gradually form their active and healthy lifestyle”, M = 2.935.

12. The correlation analysis found: there were ten correlationsshowed significant; e.g., “PE is an academic discipline and just as important as English, Math and Sciences to our students.” (continued on next slight) Cont.

13. “Without PE in our school curricula, our students will not be fully developed.” Versus “Time allocation” r =.322, p = .05 reflected the principals clearly recognized that “in order for their students receiving the ‘whole person education’, PE must be included in school curricula and mandated PE hours was necessary”.

14. Conclusion The top five statements (Item 2, 11, 1, 6 and 16) in the PPPEQ structured the principals’ PE perception. The correlation coefficients among the principals’ PE perception show that some correlations are stronger than the others. More information regarding the PE perception of the principals can be found in the Appendix A.

15. About the Appendix A Questions ? Comments? Thanks for your time and interested in this topic!!