New York State: Not Meeting Standards

State and national health and physical education standards are very important focus points for student learning. Comparing New York’s standards to Massachusetts and New Jersey’s was important to me. I am a resident of New York, went to undergraduate school in Massachusetts (Springfield College), and live right on the Jersey border. That being said, I was disappointed with New York’s standards when in comparison with Massachusetts and New Jersey.

New York’s health and physical education standards correlate for grades k-12. Massachusetts health education standards are also k-12 based (add Pre-k as well) but superior to New York’s. They include more health topics (14 different standards) and the explanations of the standards are very in depth. New Jersey’s health and physical education standards though trump both New York and Massachusetts. I was impressed with the fact Jersey uses 5 different grade intervals (k-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8, and 9-12) instead of just k-12 or Pre-k-12. They also base their standards on 6 areas (Wellness, Integrated Skills, Drugs and Medicines, Human Relationships and Sexuality, Motor Skill Development, and Fitness). Each area has their own set of in depth standards based on the grade interval. I just wonder if students are actually learning from all these areas.

New York’s standards are really disappointing. A state that has so much pride in their education system should be ashamed with itself. They are doing their students a disservice by having such weak learning principles. I find it hypocritical considering the fact their students need to take NYS regents exams. This disturbing issue is not only occurring in New York. My classmate’s research found that a state such as New Mexico was also limited in detail and age appropriateness for their standards. States such as California, Pennsylvania, and Virginia were more elaborate and included great details just like New Jersey. Breaking down the standards by grade level and giving specific outcomes for those grade levels is the way to go. Health and physical educators will benefit from such detailed standards and this will be reflected upon their students learning. Unfortunately, New York’s standards are not up to par!