YOUTH FITNESS STANDARDS
DRAWN FOR APPROVAL
The State Advisory Board on Physical
Education has drawn up recommended
minimum standards for improving youth
fitness in all grades.
In a recent memorandum to Superin¬
tendent Boehm, the Board stated that
“immediate and determined action to
improve the fitness of youth should be
taken by the Superintendent and/or the
State Council of Education. It is vitally
necessary to our national welfare that
programs of physical education in our
school system be strengthened and en¬
larged."
The Board's statement noted that a
long-range program could not be car¬
ried out in this school year.
“However," it specified, “there are
parts of this program which easily can
and should be put into effect during the
coming school year."
The recommended immediate changes,
which the Board would like to see man¬
dated and immediately instituted are
“As a minimum testing program, the
screening tests of the ‘Youth Physical
Fitness— Suggested Elements of a School
Centered Program’ should be adopted.
These tests will serve to identify phys¬
ically underdeveloped pupils, and in¬
structors can work with them to improve
their physical capacities. Where fea¬
sible, additional VALID fitness tests
for grades 4-12 should be administered.
“Time allotted to physical education
activities should be increased:
Elementary: Every elementary
school child shall receive instruc¬
tion in physical education activities
for a period of 30 minutes every
day. This 30- minute period is not to
take the place of activities during the
noon hour. Nor is it to be considered
a supervised play period: it should
include at least 15 minutes of vigor¬
ous activity and actual instruction in
many physical education skills.
Secondary: A minimum of three
physical education periods per week
shall be scheduled. Of these periods,
one should be devoted to sports in
which every physically able pupil shall
engage. Within each scheduled phys¬
ical education period, all pupils shall
receive a minimum of 15 minutes of
vigorous activity.
“Schools now meeting or exceeding the
advanced time- allotment standards and
program of 1962-71 shall not lower
their present standards."
The long-range program, as prepared
by the Board, sets out a timetable of
\w* progress from 1962 to 1971 for all
grades— elementary, junior high school,
and senior high school. For copies of
“Recommended Standards for the Phys¬
ical Education Program" write to
Bernard Rockovich, Bureau of Curricu¬
lum Services, Education Building, Har¬
risburg.
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION
sv newsletter
. ••• — ■
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
VOLUME 6, NUMBER 3 _ HARRISBURG _ OCTOBER, 1961
FIRST HIGHER EDUCATION ASSEMBLY
TO HEAR DR. JONAS SALK
The Department of Public Instruction will sponsor Pennsylvania’s first Convoca¬
tion on Higher Education in Harrisburg on November 20. Presidents and deans of
the state’s 144 institutions of higher learning have been invited to attend the meeting
which will feature the presentation of awards to outstanding college educators .
STATE COUNCIL APPROVES
NEW PROGRAMS
The State Council of Education, at its
September meeting, passed the following
resolutions:
1. Effective June, 1964, all high school
graduates shall have had 36 hours of
economics, either as a separate course,
or an equivalent amount of time in
economics integrated with other sub¬
jects in the social studies curriculum.
2. Culturai anthropology shall be add¬
ed to the list of approved subjects in
secondary schools.
3. A secondary school is defined as
any consecutive combination of grades
from seventh through twelfth which
meets the requirements of the DPI. If
the school is organized on other than a
grade basis but offers the program
normally required by the DPI for grades
7 through 12, it shall also be recognized
as a secondary school.
The Council also authorized the prep¬
aration of a master plan for the develop¬
ment of higher education in Pennsylvan¬
ia. This plan, according to the Council
should “include plans and policies for
the expansion of physical facilities and
educational offerings in existing insti¬
tutions and new institutions such as
community colleges." Drawing the plan
is to be the responsibility of the Coun¬
cil “in consultation with an advisory
committee appointed by the Superintend¬
ent." Cost of preparing the plan is to be
included in the next Department budget.
Out of its own State School Fund, the
Council resolved, will come funds to:
1. Study the pattern of development,
progress and accomplishment of
all Masters programs that have
been approved in the last three
years or for institutions that pre¬
viously did not offer graduate work.
2. Evaluate, on behalf of the Depart¬
ment of Public Instruction and the
State Council of Education, all new
applications for permission to of¬
fer graduate study, during the
period of this study.
Dr. Jonas Salk of the University of
Pittsburgh will deliver the key address.
His topic will be “Purpose in Higher
Education.”
Leading the Convocation will be Dr.
Paul R. Anderson, Chairman of the
State Council of Education’s Committee
on Higher Education.
Dr. Salk, who won international dis¬
tinction for his work in the prevention
of polio, has been Commonwealth Pro¬
fessor of Experimental Medicine and
director of the virus research labora¬
tory at the University of Pittsburgh
Medical School since 1955.
Another feature of the Convocation
will be the introduction of newly ap¬
pointed college presidents .
Superintendent Boehm strongly urges
delegates to the Education Congress
being held at the same time to attend
the Convocation. This program, he feels,
will be of interest to public school ad¬
ministrators as well as those in higher
education.
The Superintendent also plans to in¬
troduce members of the newly appointed
Higher Education Advisory Committed.
The program will be held in the Forum
of the Education Building at 8 p.m.
3. Recommend to the Department of
Public Instruction and the State
Council of Education general pol¬
icies for developing graduate study
and requirements for particular
curricula.
Further, the sum of $12,000 shall be
appropriated from the State School Fund
to be used in the study and evaluation
of graduate programs that have been
established in the past three years, and
in the evaluation of new proposals of
graduate programs .
