6
Challenge: Too much, too soon The Play: Design for Development
From the Sport for All, Play for Life report: Age 6 is not 16. Offer programming that is age and developmentally appropriate while tailored to the population served and needs of the individual child.
FIVE KEY FINDINGS IN OAKLAND Physical education in Oakland lacks funding and accountability. PE is the top location where youth play sports. 34 Yet only half (51%) of elementary school principals at Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) reported having a credentialed PE teacher on staff, and three middle schools and four high schools said classroom teachers instruct PE. 35 This is due to the lack of dedicated PE funding from OUSD. Schools may have only one extra teacher from discretionary funding, leaving principals to decide whether to use that for PE, art or music. Just 18% of schools reported using a formal PE curriculum. While on average, schools reported they comply with the state law of 200 PE minutes for every 10 days of elementary school, many schools lack anyone who tracks and reports PE minutes. Most schools do not regularly evaluate their PE programs or build in evaluation plans to help improve the classes. Schools expressed priorities to improve PE: more funding, additional trainings and professional development, more equipment and improvements to facilities, more hirings of PE teachers, and curriculum assistance/changes. OUSD was sued in 2015 over allegations that it was out of compliance with state physical education law. The parties settled with language requiring elementary schools to prove they are meeting the
mandated PE minutes. 36 Despite the challenges, 83% of youth in our survey said they enjoyed their PE class, but that decreased from 92% in elementary school to 78% in middle school to 65% in high school. Girls were twice as likely as boys to dislike PE, and 26% of White youth don’t like PE (compared to 13% each among Black and Latino/a youth). Youth from Chinatown, East Lake and San Antonio were almost three times more likely to dislike PE than their peers in Deep East Oakland.
OUSD is adding elementary school sports.
OUSD’s Expanded Learning Program recently partnered with Oakland Athletic League to fund elementary school sports camps in addition to middle and high school teams – and possibly later create organized elementary teams. The funding comes from a new $10.45 million grant from California’s Expanded Learnings Opportunity Program, which aims for schools to develop students’ academic, social, emotional, and physical needs without replicating activities in the school day and including community partners. “There used to be a huge disconnect between OAL and Expanded Learning,” said Martha Pena, OUSD Expanded Learning coordinator. “This year we took a step forward because OAL identified one issue in Oakland is there are superstar athletes and many kids who lack exposure to sports (to enjoy the social benefits).” OUSD’s sports-based youth development program hopes to increase the menu of sport options through four- to eight-week skills programming for elementary students. 37
24
PROJECT PLAY — AN INITIATIVE OF THE ASPEN INSTITUTE
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online