With more private or public funding, OUSD could create a PE department at the district level. San Francisco public schools have a nine- person Physical Education and Physical Activities Department for their 114 schools, including separate PE administrators by school level, implementation and content specialists, and an administrative analyst. In stark contrast, Oakland has one districtwide PE specialist, Nathan Jackson, who helps train PE teachers and is tasked with supporting PE across all 87 district schools by himself. He does this without access to, or knowledge of, OUSD’s budget or hiring decisions. SCHOOL-LEVEL LEADERS Integrate physical activity into the school day Given that the Oakland community school model attempts to address the student holistically, there is an opportunity to integrate physical activity throughout the school day. “We don’t need just PE teachers as the ones trained,” Jackson said. “We can get other staff to buy into it. Let’s talk about social-emotional learning in PE. Let’s do student-led activities, not teacher-led.” All of these strategies do not need to be limited to the gym or the playing field as they are equally valuable in the classroom and contribute to a broad range of student outcomes. Principals need to see the benefits of PE and physical activity, or they won’t prioritize and advocate for this in their schools. More specifically, PE teachers in Oakland can take advantage of resources provided by SHAPE America, the national leader on educating PE teachers. SHAPE America makes it easy for teachers to utilize free, self-paced webinars and paid professional development opportunities. Topics include desired grade-level outcomes, curriculum, classroom strategies, comprehensive school physical activity programs, technology, interdisciplinary learning, and adapted PE, which assists students with exceptional or developmental needs.
This funding enabled all elementary schools to receive a credentialed PE teacher and training for classroom teachers in the city’s evidence-based PE curriculum. In addition, the city hired people to conduct a needs assessment of PE across the district, which included interviews with school principals led by experts in PE pedagogy and school administration, who provided feedback to the principals and ongoing technical assistance to ensure quality PE was occurring up to state standards.
STATE OF PLAY OAKLAND
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