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Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurological condition characterized by socialization, communication, sensory processing, and motor function challenges. As such, adolescents with ASD may face health risks due to sedentary lifestyles, limited opportunities for non-academic interactions with peers, and restricted access to community-based fitness resources. Consequently, there is a critical need to investigate the impact of fitness programs tailored for individuals with ASD to identify changes in physical fitness and improvements in social skills. This article outlines the implementation of a study utilizing the Autism Fitness Program[TM], specifically designed for individuals with autism. Michelle (pseudonym), a 14-year-old adolescent with ASD participated in an 8-week Autism Fitness Program[TM] alongside Bruce (pseudonym), a peer without ASD. The study aimed to 1) determine the rate of spontaneous initiations and responses of the participant with autism to peer and coach during Autism Fitness[TM] workout sessions and 2) examine the pre and post intervention exercise performance of the participant with ASD. Keywords: Autism, ASD, exercise, physical fitness, Physical activity (PA) is essential to the well-being of adolescents. Physically active adolescents are less likely to experience chronic disease and more apt to maintain healthy lifestyles into adulthood (Centers [...]

The purpose of the study was to examine physical education teacher candidates' self-efficacy in teaching students with disabilities. Grounded in self-efficacy theory, the research design was a descriptive-qualitative case study. The participants were six White American physical education teacher candidates. The data sources were semi-structured interviews, student reflective journals, and a review of the PETE program curriculum. The data were analyzed using constant comparative data analysis and exposed the following four themes: (a) self-beliefs, (b) observing and experiencing, (c) feedback useful, and (d) self-construal. The results showed that the quality of adapted physical education (APE) coursework, feedback from APE faculty, and the amount of time dedicated to teaching students with disabilities significantly influenced the teacher candidates' self-efficacy. In contrast, limited practicum hours, limited experiences teaching students with disabilities, and the COVID-19 pandemic had negative effects on teacher candidates' self-efficacy. We discuss the implications of these findings. Keywords: Self-confidence, adapted physical education, physical education, students with disabilities, PETE Program, Introduction Physical Education Teacher Education PETE programs seek to ensure that their students acquire knowledge and teaching competencies to effectively teach students with disabilities who are included in their classes [...]

The Effects of a Three-Component Task-Analysis Approach on Sport and Workout Activity Performances of Adults with Severe Intellectual Disabilities Samantha DeNooyer, Graduate Student, Department of Human Performance and Health Education, [...]

The aim of this study was to investigate the goals scored in the 2022 amputee football World Cup to gain a better understanding of performance of amputee football players. A total of 294 goals in 80 matches of the 2022 amputee football World Cup were analysed through video footage and match reports. The results revealed 3.67 goals per match. The scored goals were not biased by the halves (p=.56). Significant differences were observed in scored goals according to time periods revealing the second 13-25' (30.27%) and the fourth period 39-50' (30.61%) as being highest goal-scoring periods. The effect of the first goal on percentages of wins was statistically significant (p=.00). The highest percentage of scored goals emerged from instep kick (63.38%). Most of the goals were scored in 5 s or less (48.64%), emerged from free kicks (44.57%) and from the organized attacks (50.34%). Keywords: Amputee soccer (football), amputation, performance variable, performance analysis, goal analysis, match analysis, Amputee football is a competitive sport played by amputees or Les Autres, where only lower limb amputees and lower limb Les Autres play as outfielders and upper limb amputees or [...]

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (2004), commonly known as IDEA, emphasizes the use of technically sound instruments and best practices in evaluation within public schools. Despite the importance of assessment in adapted physical education (APE), there is a notable lack of research focusing on APE teachers' knowledge and confidence in assessment procedures. A recent investigation aims to fill this gap by surveying APE professionals' understanding and comfort with assessment practices. Eighty-one participants completed a 70-question survey regarding APE Assessment Procedure and Evaluation. Based on the results, a need for more practitioner-friendly APE assessment resources and ongoing professional development opportunities are needed. Despite challenges, adherence to IDEA mandates and best practices in assessment is essential for ensuring equitable access to education and appropriate services for students with disabilities. Keywords: Adapted physical education, assessment, Individual with Disabilities Improvement Education Act, general physical education teachers, Introduction The Individual with Disabilities Improvement Education Act (2004), more commonly referred to as IDEA, indicates that public schools use technically sound instruments and best practices in evaluation ([section]300.304). Technically [...]

Many high schools across Virginia participate in the Medford High School Basketball League. The league is comprised of high school students with disabilities who compete against each other high schools in a fun, low-pressure games. Students wear uniforms or t-shirts displaying their school's name, and referees make sure the game flows smoothly without calling many violations or fouls. Coaches may go onto the court as needed to support their players. Often, students without disabilities are released from classes to fill the stand in their gymnasiums and cheer on their classmates. This paper introduces the Medford League, history of development, game play logistics and rules, and the benefits to players and the broader high school community. The paper concludes with a case study of one regional Medford League in Central Virginia. Keywords: Basketball, disability, high school, Imagine you are a high school student with a disability who would love to participate in a sport and represent your school. You dream of wearing your school's uniform and [...]

After years of steady growth and a pandemic-related explosion, online learning has become a common format for college courses. A decade ago, just 28 percent of all U.S. college students [...]

Is there a shortage of special education teachers in America's public schools? If so, why? And how can policymakers fix it? The first question sounds like an easy one. Yes, [...]

Superintendent Mike Miles took the reins of Houston Independent School District in June 2023--to much fanfare and resistance--as part of a takeover by the Texas Education Agency. Houston is ed [...]

For decades, most school choice advocates promoted vouchers as a means-tested program for families that would not otherwise be able to afford private schools. Targeted vouchers were deemed equitable, politically [...]

Open enrollment in public schools is a form of school choice that allows students to attend schools other than the one assigned to them by their school district. Though often [...]

May 17 marks the 70th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark school desegregation decision in Brown v. Board of Education. There is ample reason to celebrate Brown: not only [...]

Infants are prepared to learn shared cultural knowledge from nonverbal communicative demonstrations addressed to them at a remarkably early age. --Katalin Egyed, Ildiko Kiraly, and Gyorgy Gergely, 'Communicating Shared Knowledge [...]

This paper explores the life of Dimitrios Vikelas, specifically as it relates to his work in bringing the first modern Olympic Games to Athens, Greece, in 1896. The increasing professionalization of the Olympics has shifted the focus of the Games toward sport and the building of superstars rather than the ethical values that can be gleaned from this international event. Discussing Olympism and Vikelas' core values with students is an important way to reintegrate fair play and sportsmanship into all levels of sport. The paper examines the history behind the concept of international sporting games, specifically the ancient Olympic Games, their much-imitated early European counterparts, and the Modern Olympics. By teaching Vikelas' philosophy of brotherhood and sportsmanship in the classroom, we can begin to breath the spirit of Olympism back into the Olympic Games., Introduction The modern Olympic Games have undergone a considerable evolution since its resuscitation in 1896. As the rescheduled 2021 Olympic and Paralympic Games closed in Tokyo, discussing Olympism and its [...]

The student teaching experience is a significant learning opportunity for preservice teachers (Clarke et al., 2013; Matsko et al., 2020). This field experience requires preservice teachers to work closely with a cooperating teacher (CT), who serves a fundamental role within teacher preparation programs, providing the classroom context and K-12 teaching experience for teacher candidates. An extensive body of literature provides compelling evidence that CTs lack appropriate preparation to support student teachers, resulting in inconsistent and potentially ineffective supervision during the student teaching experience (Clarke et al., 2014; Matsko et al., 2020). Therefore, teacher preparation programs should support and prepare CTs for their significant roles in supporting preservice teachers' training., Physical education teacher education (PETE) literature documents that physical education CTs (PECTs) facilitate the transfer of knowledge learned in PETE programs into practice within K-12 school environments (Richards et al., [...]

Music is a tool physical education (PE) teachers can use to help motivate students to greater physical activity (PA) rates during class activities. Music research in the PE context has found music to increase PA rates in the junior high school context (Brewer et al., 2016), that music increases the enjoyment of the PE experience for students (Barney et al., 2016) and can serve as a distraction during certain workouts (Higginson et al., 2019). This study aimed to examine the effects of music on physical activity rates (steps taken and time in activity) via pedometers of junior high school students in basketball gameplay. For this study, 270 junior high school students (157 males and 113 females) from eight intact seventh-, eighth-, and ninth-grade classes participated. The male and female participants attended different schools. Generally, it was found that the female participants were more active than their male counterparts when music was playing. These results and others illustrate music's effect on junior high school student PA rates., Introduction Music can be a powerful tool for increasing a person's physical activity. For example, college students' who listened to their personal music devices perceived that they worked harder and [...]

The COVID-19 pandemic created many challenges for K-12 schools during the 2020-2021 school year (e.g, establishing social distancing measures, decisions regarding testing protocols, and transition from in-person to distance learning). Changes in teaching and learning modalities, from in-person to remote learning options, quickly became a reality for many students [an estimated 95%, according to Engzell et al. (2021)]. With an increase in distance learning came changes in students' structured and unstructured physical activity participation. The impact of these changes is unknown and justifies research investigating the effect modality shifts held on students' participation in physical activity and any associated outcomes. A mixed-methods survey was administered to examine changes in K-12 students' learning modality, participation in physical activity, and associated outcomes. Changes in learning modality from in-person to online were most frequently indicated (90%). Respondents stated both challenges and success stories associated with students' participation in physical activities resulting from modality shifts (e.g, decreased social engagements, decreased exposure to structured and facilitated physical education, and increased outdoor play). Positive outcomes were most prevalent in children engaging in moderate PA. However, 85% of respondents indicated a decrease in their child's physical activity participation. Our findings justify further investigation of the immediate and long-term impact of school modality shifts on students' engagement in physical activities., Introduction Throughout the 2020-2021 school year, the United States K-12 education system faced a breadth of challenges in providing students with an effective learning experience as a result of the [...]

Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation is defined by the Mayo Clinic as a lifesaving technique that is useful in many emergencies, such as a heart attack, stroke, choking, or drowning, in which someone's breathing and heartbeat have stopped. Under the guidelines put forth by the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR) and the Emergency Cardiovascular Care Organization (ECC), the American Red Cross and American Heart Association currently require that an individual's CPR certification be renewed every two years. However, data has suggested that non-allied healthcare providers, such as school-based personnel, may require more regular training to maintain required CPR proficiency levels. Four hundred non-allied healthcare professionals from a school district in central Georgia were CPR-certified under the American Heart Association (AHA) Heart-Saver curriculum. Participants included 153 males and 247 females from elementary, middle, and high school settings. Participants included administrators, teachers, coaches, and staff. Two tenured college professors from the School of Health and Human Performance were responsible for teaching and certifying study participants. Each of these professors possessed a minimum of five years of CPR certification experience with the American Heart Association. Course sizes were limited to 12-15participants. All CPR certification courses were implemented under standardized, controlled circumstances. Following the initial certification, twenty-five percent of participants were randomly selected to be reassessed at either three, six, nine, or twelve months, respectively, to determine memory and skill degradation rates and patterns. Degradation of declarative and procedural knowledge was observed during subsequent retest sessions at each of the three-, six-, nine-, and twelve-month marks. Scores depreciated approximately 10% each three-month retesting period, to 88%, 79%, 69%, and 57%, respectively. Data suggest that after six months, participants failed to meet the AHA standards for demonstrating acceptable declarative and procedural knowledge related to CPR implementation. Due to the observed degradation in both declarative and procedural knowledge, it is apparent that a more periodic training and recertification process in CPR is required for school-based personnel. A more consistent and periodic approach to preparing school-based first responders may prove beneficial in maintaining CPR proficiency rates, which very well could save lives., Introduction CPR Certification Protocols Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, or CPR, is defined by the Mayo Clinic as a lifesaving technique that is useful in many emergencies, such as a heart attack, stroke, [...]

The purpose of this study was to examine comprehensive school physical activity program (CSPAP) policies and practices in international schools in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates. Following an explanatory-sequential mixed-methods research design, the researchers employed the Comprehensive School Physical Activity Program Policies and Practices Questionnaire (CSPAP-Q) and follow-up interviews to describe CSPAP implementation and explore implementation enablers and challenges. A convenience sample of physical education teachers (N=18) participated in the questionnaire, and seven of these teachers participated in individual interviews. Teachers' responses to the questionnaire indicated considerable heterogeneity and numerous gaps in existing school-based physical activity opportunities and promotion efforts. Interviews revealed three themes related to CSPAP implementation: (a) time constraints in secondary schools, (b) facilities, and (c) location. This study provides an initial glimpse into whole-of-school physical activity programming in Dubai international schools., Introduction Participation in physical activity (PA) has many well-documented health-related, developmental, and academic benefits for children and adolescents (Poitras et al., 2016). The World Health Organization (WHO, 2010) recommends that [...]

Louisville native Dr. Jabani Bennett is an interdisciplinary visual artist, yoga instructor, community-engaged educator, leadership consultant, dancer, and mama. She is also the first Black and openly queer director in [...]

For the past several years, the Dr. N.Joyce Payne Center for Social Justice (CSJ) has been bringing together crucial voices and perspectives to positively impact Black life in American society. [...]

In April, Dr. Aaron Thompson, president of the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE), participated in the Attaining College Excellence and Equity Summit put together by the U.S. Department of [...]

When College English published The Homosexual Imagination, a new generation of writing centers were emerging in response to social, cultural, and educational movements that centered BIPOC, GI Bill recipients, and [...]

While The Homosexual Imagination special issue stands as a vital historical marker of how our field has engaged with queerness, its overwhelmingly white male viewpoint demonstrates how dominant discourses can [...]

Five years after the Stonewall uprising, College English published The Homosexual Imagination, a special issue that addressed the hostility surrounding the teaching of homosexual literature and advocated for the fundamental [...]

Isn't it queer how we cite impact? So often we imbue ephemera and the ephemeral with covert affective attachments noting histories that otherwise would remain unmarked and unaccounted. While reading [...]

'Before Eve Sedgwick': Reading The Homosexual Imagination Again for the First Time Michael J. Faris and T.J. Geiger II In 1974, College English published a special issue on The Homosexual [...]

In his affirming response to The Homosexual Imagination, poet and English professor Bernhard Frank opens with a fascinating reminder of 1970s social context. 'Such a kosher-stamp to homosexuality in academia,' [...]

It's my first week as a graduate student, and I sit in the office of the director of graduate studies, telling her that I'm pregnant. I'm twelve weeks along, my [...]

I invite you, readers of College English, researchers, and friends in recovery, to reflect on the impact that Alcoholics Anonymous' collective collusion has had on the fundamental silencing of its [...]

Abdi Nazemian's (2019) Like a Love Story ends with a time jump from 1989 to 2016. In the scene, the three teenage protagonists--Reza, Judy, and Art--are all grown up, reunited, [...]

It was just a little boob tap. An accidental brush of the arm. I was on a 12-hour flight from San Francisco to Taipei, the first stop of my school [...]

Being queer is wonderful. It is a gift to be queer and to see the world queerly. However, English language arts (ELA) classrooms often do not celebrate LGBTQIA+ voices and [...]

In my childhood I dreamed about a culture of belonging. I still dream that dream. I contemplate what our lives would be like if we knew how to cultivate awareness, [...]

In April 2023, I attended a student panel hosted by my institution, Anne Arundel Community College, called 'Breaking the Silence: Supporting and Protecting Transgender Students.' I was joined by numerous [...]

If you haven't read 'Rocket Night' (2016) by Alexander Weinstein, you should. Similar in theme to Shirley Jackson's (1948) 'The Lottery,' Weinstein's short story is about a horrifying annual ritual [...]

All students deserve access to literature that explores diverse identities, and educators need to be strong advocates to ensure this access through classroom bookshelves and curriculum (National Council of Teachers [...]

As educators situated geographically within the US/Mexico borderlands and socially as queer, our worldviews and pedagogies are informed by liminality. Across various scholarly disciplines, liminality has come to refer to [...]

On January 23, 2022, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds read two paragraphs from A// Boys Aren't Blue during an interview on KCCI, a Des Moines-based television network. A Black queer 'memoir-manifesto' [...]

You wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down. --TONI MORRISON, SONG OF SOLOMON We--five queer and trans educator-scholars of color--arrived at this dialogue feeling [...]

Inclusive education requires teachers to design instruction that benefits all students, regardless of their abilities, gender, or cultural background. Cooperative learning, a strategy that inherently fosters inclusivity, is one of the approaches that can enhance the implementation of inclusive education. Therefore, teachers need to be well-versed in this pedagogical approach. The extant literature on cooperative learning in inclusive education settings is limited. This study, therefore, examined cooperative learning as an instructional approach to improve the implementation of inclusive education. This qualitative study was conducted through semistructured interviews with four purposively selected teachers from four schools in South Africa. Lesson observations were conducted during teaching and learning, and documents were reviewed. Data were analysed through content analysis. The findings revealed that cooperative learning, in its essence, allowed students to actively help each other, share their domestic knowledge, and build connections. The implications of these findings for inclusive education are discussed. Keywords: Barriers; cooperative learning; inclusive learning; learners with disabilities, Introduction The concept of inclusive education is rooted in the ideas of social justice and democracy, as outlined in the Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education, [...]

This study addresses the role of female school leaders in enhancing intellectual security within government-run middle schools in the Hafr Al-Batin region of Saudi Arabia from the perspective of female teachers. Utilizing a descriptive survey method, the research targeted 858 female teachers in the region, with a randomly selected sample of 248 participants. The results indicate a high level of awareness among teachers regarding the importance of intellectual security, emphasizing the crucial role of female school leaders in creating a supportive educational environment. The study identifies four basic dimensions of intellectual security: religious, respecting dialogue and accepting the other opinion, national identity and critical thinking. While national identity and religious values were given high priority, less emphasis was placed on dialogue and critical thinking, indicating areas for improvement. No significant differences were found in perceptions of intellectual security based on educational qualifications or years of experience, except in the proposals dimension, where more experienced teachers perceived its importance more acutely. The research highlights the necessity of continuous training and development programs for female school leaders and recommends integrating social media into the educational process, providing specialized training to manage intellectual aspects, and conducting workshops to enhance critical thinking skills. These findings underscore the pivotal role of educational leadership in promoting intellectual security and indicate the need for further research that includes diverse educational stages and environments. This study provides valuable insights for developing educational programs that address contemporary intellectual and security challenges in Arab and global educational contexts. It advocates for the principles of whole schooling by reinforcing social structures that reject extremism, promote citizenship, and foster a safe and supportive learning environment. Keywords: School leaders; middle schools; intellectual security; Saudi Arabia., Introduction The contemporary global landscape, profoundly transformed by globalization, has introduced significant shifts across political, social, cultural, and economic spheres. These transformations have dramatically altered thought patterns across society's diverse [...]