Case Study Could Shape Physical Education Landscape

New Approach New Results For years physical educators across the country have advocated for daily physical education for their students. Legislators have joined the bandwagon and passed legislation mandating physical education for most K-12 grade students throughout CA and across the nation. However, much to the dismay of physical educators, concerned parents, public health advocates and pediatricians, the education codes mandating physical education has been largely ignored. That however, appears to be changing in the nation's second largest school district, LAUSD. The City Project (a legal and policy advocacy organization), working with teachers and school officials in the Los Angeles Unified School District, are using social science and legal research to promote changes in public policy that hopefully will result in better and more equitably delivered physical education in public schools in Los Angeles, California. Tipping Point to a Physical Education Revolution Persuading other school districts to enforce physical education requirements has previously proven to be unfruitful and uneventful. But this new strategy which has played out in Los Angeles over the past year represents a thoughtful and strategic effort by key stake holders in the community and in the district has packed a powerful punch. It has leveraged the undivided attention on the part of district officials in an attempt to avoid legal action. In the world of education, a common battle cry is "What California does the nation follows." It appears that in the arena of equal access to daily physical education, Los Angeles Unified School District showing the way. Check out this month's complete Featured Article entitled: Case Study Could Shape Physical Education Landscape. Original story source: Robert Garcia, The City Project, Los Angeles, CA, USA, and Chad Fenwick, Los Angeles Unified School District, Los Angeles, CA, USA, have published an article on Social Science, Equal Justice, and Public Health Policy: Lessons from Los Angeles, in the Journal of Public Health Policy (2009) 30, S26-S32.