More and more states are adopting the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) while the student population, in the United States, is rapidly becoming more diverse. The CCSS aim to prepare students for College and Career Readiness (CCR). As the new direction of today’s educational reform, CCR is defined as the preparation of high school graduates to enter college courses and/or workforce-training programs (Mills, 2012) successfully. The CCSS intend to set consistent expectations for all students across states. Individual districts or schools however, are still responsible for designing content, instructional strategies and assessments in order to meet these expectations.
Literacy and mathematical skills are a primary focus of the CCSS and technical subjects -physical education and art – are expected to support and promote such skills. Thus, the CCSS evoke the need for a more cross-disciplinary educational approach requiring more explicit instructions regarding reading, writing, speaking, listening as well as critical thinking and problem solving skills, by all educators. In other words, infusing the above components into physical education programs is no longer a choice but rather a requirement.
Commonly, most high-quality physical education programs do provide opportunities for students to develop motor, cognitive and social skills (Sibley & Etnier 2003; Etnier et al., 1997) along with problem solving, collaboration and communication skills. The expectation implicit in CCSS however, of physical education promoting and supporting mathematics and literacy, puts a greater challenge upon PE programs. Already many physical educators are battling to keep larger size classes of students appropriately engaged in health-enhancing levels of physical activity.
This article points out how a high-quality physical education programs could -if it is not doing so already – promote and support CCR and meet CCSS. With the implementation of commonly used methods and approaches, and the willingness to re-think physical education programs with a multidisciplinary lens, the CCSS could be an attainable challenge.
