Curriculum and Instruction
COMPREHENSIVE HEALTH AND
PHYSICAL EDUCATION
Frequently Asked Questions
New Jersey
Comprehensive Health and Physical Education Core Curriculum
Content Standards Frequently Asked Questions: Health and
Family Life Education
In order to ensure that all students are able to achieve the
health and physical education core standards, the following
guidance is provided.
- Are all students required to participate in the health
and physical education program?
Yes. N.J.S.A. 18A:35-7 requires every pupil, except kindergarten
pupils, attending public schools to take such courses. However,
the core standards establish requirements for students in grades
K-12.
- How many minutes per week must students have health and
physical education?
N.J.S.A. 18A:35-7&8 requires that students in grades 1-12
receive 150 minutes (or two and one-half hours) of health,
safety, and physical education per week, prorated for school
holidays. Local school districts decide how many minutes per
week are necessary in each area in order to achieve the core
standards.
- Can recess count towards those minutes?
Schools may be able to use recess to fulfill the 150 minute
requirement if the following elements are met:
- The activities/lessons are taken from the locally
developed health and physical education curriculum and are
linked to classroom instruction and assessment;
- The activities/lessons are designed to meet the health and
physical education core standards;
- The activities/lessons are designed, supervised, and
assessed by an appropriately certified teacher;
- The student-teacher ratio is aligned with accepted
district policies for instructional programs;
- All students participate.
- Can students be denied access to recess?
If recess is used to fulfill the 150 minutes as required by law,
then students cannot be denied access to recess since it is
instructional. If recess is used to fulfill the requirement,
students should not be permitted to substitute other
instructional programs (e.g. music lessons, gifted programs, ESL
instruction) for recess.
- Can a student with a medical condition be exempted from
health and physical education?
No. The law requires that the medical inspector determine the
child’s fitness for participation in such courses. However, the
law was originally written in 1917 and amended in 1967, before
the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Section
504 and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
All students must have meaningful access to curriculum and
instruction based on the core standards.
- If a student has a medical condition that limits his/her
ability to participate in the regular physical education
program, what must the school do?
N.J.A.C. 6A:14-4.1(f) states that physical education services,
specially designed if necessary, shall be made available to
every student with a disability ages 5 through 21, including
those students in separate facilities. Individual student needs
should be addressed through the student’s Individualized
Education Plan or 504 Plan. The child’s program should be
modified to reflect activities that the child can participate
in, even if some modifications are necessary. Modifications may
be similar to those described in the next questions.
Additionally, Chapter 9 of the Comprehensive Health and Physical
Education Curriculum Framework (1999) provides guidance in this
regard.
- If a student has a temporary disability (e.g. fractured
leg, recent surgery) and cannot participate in the regular
physical education program, what should the school do?
First, the school should communicate with the child’s family and
attending physician to determine how long the child will need
accommodations. Once this is determined, the school has a number
of options based on the grade and age of the child.
In school, the student can:
- Participate in the regular physical education class with
restrictions based on the severity and nature of his/her
disability;
- Participate in an adaptive physical education class that
provides individualized instruction based on the type and
severity of his/her disability;
- Substitute health instruction for physical education for
that marking period, semester, or school year with the
student returning to physical education when medically
appropriate; or
- Substitute a health-related class that meets a number of
the core standards and local curricular objectives such as
foods and nutrition or parenting and child care.
Out-of-school the student can:
- Participate in a physician-ordered program with a licensed
physical therapist (e.g. therapeutic exercise programs that
improve range of motion or strength); or
- Complete an approved independent study project in an area
related to the physical education course objectives.
For high school students, alternative programs of study fulfill
the health and physical education graduation requirements as
part of "Option II". The principal must ensure that the student
has met local district curricular objectives and should
carefully document the student’s achievement. For elementary
students, schools must design programs that address appropriate
activity levels and behaviors not only during physical education
but during recess, after-school programs, and class trips.
- If a student plays on a school athletic team, can he/she
be excused from physical education? Pursuant to
N.J.A.C.6A:8-5.1 adopted in June 2009, district boards of
education shall establish a process to approve individualized
student learning opportunities that meet or exceed the Core
Curriculum Content Standards. This new regulations requires
all high school to adopt “option II” policies and procedures
that permit a student or group of students to meet or exceed
the core standards in any subject area through alternative
activities. These activities may be school sponsored or
accomplished outside the school. Documentation of the
student’s achievement of the curricular objectives is
required.
- If a student participates in athletic activities outside
school, can the child be excused from physical education?
The local board of education would have to approve the child’s
participation as an alternative means of achieving the core
standards. The procedure would be much the same as outlined
above.
- Can a student be excused from family life and sexuality
education?
Yes. Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 18A:35-4.7, any child whose parent or
guardian presents to the school a signed statement that any part
of instruction in health, family life education or sex education
is in conflict with his conscience or sincerely held moral or
religious beliefs shall be excused from that portion of the
course.
- If a child is excused from instruction under these
provisions, how can the child meet the core standards?
The school should provide alternative ways for the child to meet
the health and physical education core standards. The child
could be assigned to participate in physical education during
that time that his/her class is receiving health instruction.
The child could be given an alternative health project to
complete as a substitute for the family life unit. Parents and
teachers should work together to ensure that the student
achieves curricular objectives that are not of concern to the
parent.
- High school students need to complete 3¾ credits
of health, physical education, and safety in order to
graduate. Over 4 years, that equals 15 credits. Can a
student take health and PE 5 days a week for three years to
fulfill the requirement?
No. State law and regulations stipulate that students must take
3¾ credits for each year of attendance in order to
graduate.
- Must students receive a grade in health and physical
education?
Yes. N.J.S.A. 18A:35-7 requires that the conduct and attainment
of the pupils shall be marked as in other courses or subjects,
and the standing of the pupil shall form a part of the
requirements for promotion or graduation.
- We require students to take three marking periods of
physical education and one marking period of health each
year. We average the four grades for a final grade for the
year. Should we keep the grades separate?
That is a local decision. Some schools keep the grades separate
because they require a mid-term or final exam in each of the two
areas. Others prefer to average the four grades and record one
final grade on the student record.
- Must the health and physical education grade be used to
calculate class rank and/or grade point average?
That is a local decision.
- Who is authorized to teach health and physical education?
A certified elementary school teacher in grades
kindergarten through five can teach any of the CCCS subjects
(including health and physical education). In grades 6-12,
teachers must be considered a content specialist and be
certified to teach health and physical education. Certified
school nurses are permitted to provide classroom health
instruction in grades K-12. Teachers who are K-12 certified in
health education can only teach health. Similarly, teachers
who hold a K-12 physical education license may only teach PE.
Dually certified health and physical education teachers are
permitted to teach both subjects K-12. For more information go
to Professional Licensure and Standards:
www.nj.gov/njded/code/title6a/chap9
or
www.njgov/njded/educators/license
- Can teachers punish students by withholding
physical education?
Local school board policy should not permit a teacher to
discipline a student by restricting his/her access to
other instructional programs like art, music, or physical
education. Such decisions should be subject to
administrative review.
- Can students be pulled from physical education for
music lessons, basic skills, science lab, or gifted
programs?
By law, students are required to participate in 150
minutes of health, safety, and physical education per
week. If the school’s program exceeds the required number
of minutes, the school administration should discuss with
both teachers how to accommodate the child’s participation
in both programs without penalty to the child. At the high
school level, many schools provide four days per week of
instruction in health and physical education to
accommodate a fifth day for lab sciences.
- Can parent volunteers or classroom aides supervise
recess?
If non-certified personnel supervise recess, it cannot be
considered instructional for the purpose of fulfilling the
150 minute requirement.
- When will students be assessed on the health and
physical education standards?
No dates have been set for statewide testing in this area.
- What is the AIDS Prevention Act and how does it
impact family life education?
N.J.S.A. 18A:35-4.19-22, the AIDS Prevention Act of 1999,
is commonly referred to as the stress abstinence law. The
law requires that school-based programs stress that
abstinence from sexual activity is the only completely
reliable means of eliminating the sexual transmission of
HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases and of
avoiding pregnancy. The law requires local boards of
education to include in its curriculum the reasons,
skills, and strategies for remaining or becoming
abstinent. It also requires that any instruction on
methods of contraception, including the use of condoms,
include information on their failure rates in actual use
with adolescents. The law also requires that programs and
materials stress the importance of avoiding intravenous
drug use as a method of HIV prevention.
- Does this mean we must implement an abstinence-only
program?
No. The law clearly states that schools can discuss
contraception and risk reduction as long as abstinence is
stressed as the only completely reliable method of
prevention. The Comprehensive Health and Physical
Education Core Curriculum Content Standards require
students to understand both abstinence and contraception.
- Do we have to teach about breast self-examination?
Yes. Enacted in 1999, N.J.S.A. 18A:35-5.4 requires each
board of education which operates programs for students in
grades 7-12 to offer instruction in breast
self-examination as part of the district’s implementation
of the Core Curriculum Content Standards in Comprehensive
Health and Physical Education.
- Our school has a separate family life curriculum, a
separate HIV/AIDS curriculum, a separate drug and
alcohol curriculum, and a separate PE curriculum?
Shouldn’t we have one comprehensive health and
physical education curriculum?
While this is a local decision, the Comprehensive Health
and Physical Education Standards are combined and include
all of these areas. The standards use "wellness" as the
thread that links the two content areas into one cohesive
document.