Inside USBE > Departments and Programs > Teaching and Learning > Academic Areas and Supporting Programs > Physical Education
The goal of physical education is to develop healthy, responsible students who have the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to work together in groups, think critically, and participate in a variety of activities that lead to a lifelong healthy lifestyle. Research tells us that students who are physically active for 60 minutes a day have higher self-confidence and more active synapses in the brain, experience a decrease in chronic illnesses, and are less likely to be absent from school. Such students are ready for career and college success. Time given to physical activity in school must not only be incorporated, but also be of the highest quality.
The Physical Education Core utilizes appropriate instructional practices to develop competence and confidence in a variety of lifetime activities and movement forms, including sports, dance, outdoor recreation, and physical fitness. The emphasis is on providing success and enjoyment for all students. Knowledge of the relationship between proper nutrition and a consistent fitness regimen is the common thread running through the core. Students develop life skills through cooperative and competitive activity participation, and learn the value of a physically active life.
Please nominate a teacher, or yourself, who is using innovative and exciting methods to engage students in health and physical education. Each month a teacher will be chosen as the Spotlight and be featured in the monthly Health and Physical Education Newsletter. Fill in the Teacher Spotlight for Health and Physical Education to complete the nomination.
Utah State Board of Education Utah Core State Standards for Physical Education
Physical Education Endorsement
Utah State Board of Education Educator Licensing
School-Related Head Injuries and Management of Sports-Related Concussions Model Concussion and Head Injury Policy (2021)
Utah State Board of Education Safe and Healthy Schools Student Health Services
Active Schools
Join the movement to increase physical education and physical activity in our nation's schools. Let's Move Active Schools is a comprehensive program that empowers school champions-physical education teachers, classroom teachers, principals, administrators, and parents to create active environments that enable all students to get moving and reach their full potential.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): Division of Adolescent School Health (DASH)
CDC promotes the health and well-being of children and adolescents through schools, enabling them to become healthy and productive adults.
Discovery Education
Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators: Health, Physical Education, and Fitness.
Human Kinetics
Books, journals, videos, software, distance education courses, job opportunities, and more in sports, fitness, physical education, and the sport and exercise sciences.
PE Central
This website puts the education in physical education. Built by a group of physical education professors and based at Virginia Tech, the enormous collection of health and physical education lesson plans make this worth a visit alone.
PE Central Associations
List of PE Central State, National and District PE Associations.
Physical and Health Education (PHE) America
During the school year, fresh editions of this site are published every two weeks. They have links on health, nutrition, fitness, sports, physical education, news, resources, lesson plans, etc.
Physical Education (Brain Breaks)
Short physical activity brain breaks for elementary classrooms. These activities can be integrated with other core content or used as stand alone activity breaks for K-6 students.
Presidential Youth Fitness Program (PYFP)
The national fitness education and assessment program helping schools achieve excellence in physical education. PYFP is a free program developed to ensure what happens before, during, and after the fitness assessment is beneficial for students and teachers and leads to youth who are active for life.
ShapeUpUS: Hip Hop Healthy Heart Program for Children
This is a curriculum that offers children the chance to prevent obesity and build the essential foundation for a healthy life. Free materials sample available.
Skate in School
A commercial website for Roller Blade, and also includes valuable information on funding and applying for grants. Benefits of in-line skating are listed, and a section on commonly asked questions is also included. Representatives from this program can provide in-service as well as a curriculum which is National Association of Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) approved and meets the national standards.
Society of Health and Physical Educators (SHAPE) America
Formerly Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD)
A nonprofit, educational organization whose mission is to promote and support creative and healthy lifestyles through high quality programs in health, physical education, recreation, dance and sport, and to provide members with professional development opportunities that increase knowledge, improve skills, and encourage sound professional practices.
Step Express
Select Health has created a great free physical education curriculum targeted for fourth grade classrooms. Step Express tracks students' progress as they journey across the state of Utah. The curriculum contains three main parts: fitness challenge, lesson plans, and physical education activities.
As part of the Utah State Board of Education's Strategic Plan: Safe and Healthy Schools Strategy B - "Increase adoption of evidence-based student health and wellness practices" the Utah State Board of Education has created a document for recess best practices. Recess guidelines are beneficial for informing physical activity and recess components of local wellness policies. These policies are required to include specific goals for physical activity especially those that promote student wellness. Recess is a key component for a preventative policy.
Best Practices for Recess Guidance
Utah State Board of Education Health Education
Subscribe to be on our Physical Education Team using the Utah Education Network (UEN) Mailing List! The team with receive e-mail notification about what is going on in Utah's Health and Physical Education world with information about professional development opportunities, interesting articles, pertinent information, and curriculum resources.