Large Group Grading Criteria

In the National Standards for Physical Education, the following is stated:

“The content standards essentially say that physical education has academic standing. They say there is such a thing as achievement, that knowledge and skills matter, and that mere participation is not the same as education. They affirm that discipline and rigor are essential to achievement and that all behaviors associated with physical education can be measured.”

For all students to become physically educated, assessment practices must support the instruction of physical education and the learning of each student. Assessment should be a dynamic process that continually yields information about student progress toward the achievement of the curriculum goals and objectives.

A broad spectrum of assessment tools must be used for measurement in physical education. These tools must be sensitive to the students’ learning context and the particular area of physical education skills. In elementary physical education, many times the measurement may be through informed critical judgement. Often, the measurement will be in terms of assessment of performance/demonstration skills. As in other areas of the curriculum, can be through paper and pencil techniques. However, most assessments in physical education must involve a more subtle and varied approach – including skill demonstrations, performance tasks, and oral assessments.

Activities in the physical education curriculum are suggested for use in teaching the objectives. A teacher would need to develop personal assessment tools based on the objectives and the needs of students in the class. Some possible assessments are:

• Demonstrations in large and/or small groups
• Individual demonstrations where appropriate
• Performance-based assessment of movement activities and locomotor skills
• Working cooperatively with team members to complete an assigned task
• Using equipment and space safely and properly
• Responding to verbal questions or demonstrating the appropriate signal to a series of questions
• Written activity/student journal

Health awareness and physical fitness attitudes are formed at the elementary level. Physical education classes are the building blocks for lifetime sports and healthy living practices. Teaching young students to set goals for a healthy lifestyle is one of the curriculum objectives that are assessed by the district physical fitness test. This health-related fitness test emphasizes the development of exercise rather than high-level fitness performance and is one of the many assessments used in the physical education classroom.

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