Abstract
This thesis examines student access to the physical education (PE) minutes mandated by the state of California. These minutes are mandated in hopes of improving the overall health and wellbeing of youth through physical activity (PA) in schools, which has been recognized as a national priority (Carter & Swinburn, 2004; World Health Organization, 2008). To ensure all students equal access to the benefits of PE, a total of 19 states as of 2016 were found to have established PE mandates that require local education agencies (LEA) to facilitate a specific number of minutes for student populations. However, school accountability data indicate that many LEA in California often fall short of offering these state-mandated PE minutes (Doe v. Albany Unified School District, 2010, Cal 200 et al. v. San Francisco Unified School District et al., 2014).
LEA compliance of PE minutes at the state level is well documented in the literature; however, the compliance status regarding state mandates and even federal PE mandates on behalf of students with disabilities (SWD) seems to be absent in the literature. This shortage of information is of great concern because the literature suggests that school administration is often unaware of disability law pertaining to PE, and, as a result, K-12 principals and even special education administration likely fall short of properly implementing and supporting the continuum of services for SWD in PE (Bittner et al., 2020; McNamera et al., 2020). Since SWD are disproportionately affected by low levels of PA in comparison to children without disabilities (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2007; Task Force on Community Preventive Services, 2002), PE compliance at the state and federal levels for this subgroup must be further examined to gauge the significance of both the legal and health risks presumably assumed by California schools.
MethodologyTo investigate the perceived barriers and facilitators that influence access to PE minutes and the overall continuum of services in PE for SWD, the researcher collected and analyzed quantitative survey data from 27 questions that captured the perspectives of 37 adapted PE (APE) teachers currently employed by the state of California. Descriptive statistics were used to evaluate the status of PE compliance for SWD and investigate the significance of each PE barrier and facilitator according to the participants. Results indicated that the majority of the schools with which participants worked directly failed to facilitate all the state-mandated PE minutes for SWD that are not mainstreamed into general PE.
Conclusions and RecommendationsIn hopes of improving the availability of PE programs embedded within the continuum of services and equal access to the state-mandated PE minutes, the researcher identified the following three separate resources as probable facilitators: Section 300.108 of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, The APE Guidelines for California Schools, policy letters, and support documents from the Office of Special Education Programs. Findings from the survey data suggest that the majority of the participants do not often collaborate with school administrators and, as a result, many lack experience sharing all three resources with their school administrators. After analyzing survey data, the researcher came to the consensus that administrations' frequent lack of knowledge regarding the continuum of services in PE coupled with insufficient collaboration with the APE teachers may be the most significant PE barrier suggested by the participants. Future research should be conducted to evaluate school administration's knowledge of the continuum of services in PE available to SWD and investigate facilitators that successfully bridge this knowledge gap.