Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport

ISSN: 0270-1367 (Print) 2168-3824 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/urqe20

Health-Related Fitness Content Knowledge,

Physical Activity, and Instructional Practices
Among U.S. Physical Educators

Ben D. Kern, Stacy Imagbe, David Bellar & James Clemons

To cite this article: Ben D. Kern, Stacy Imagbe, David Bellar & James Clemons (2019):
Health-Related Fitness Content Knowledge, Physical Activity, and Instructional Practices
Among U.S. Physical Educators, Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, DOI:
10.1080/02701367.2019.1648744

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/02701367.2019.1648744

Published online: 14 Oct 2019.

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RESEARCH QUARTERLY FOR EXERCISE AND SPORT
https://doi.org/10.1080/02701367.2019.1648744

Health-Related Fitness Content Knowledge, Physical Activity, and Instructional

Practices Among U.S. Physical Educators
Ben D. Kern, Stacy Imagbe, David Bellar, and James Clemons
University of Louisiana Lafayette

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

To promote student physical literacy, physical educators must teach and assess health-related Received 11 March 2019
fitness content knowledge (HRFK) and model healthy lifestyles. Individual HRFK is associated with Accepted 23 July 2019
lifetime physical activity (PA) and each may precede/predict both teaching and assessing of KEYWORDS
student HRFK. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine factors related to physical Teaching; assessment; PE
educators’ teaching and assessment of student HRFK. Method: Physical educators (N = 796) Metrics; PECAT; IPAQ
representing each SHAPE America regional district completed a 33-item survey to determine
their individual HRFK, weekly PA, and extent to which they teach (tHRFK) and assess (aHRFK)
student HRFK. Results: Multiple regression was conducted to determine if tHRFK and aHRFK are
predicted by teachers’ individual HRFK, min/week of light, moderate, or vigorous PA, or any
demographic variables. Overall, the tHRFK model was significant (F = 10.919, R2 = 0.100,
p < .001) with all predictors significant, except weekly minutes of moderate PA and participant
HRFK (p < .05). The aHRFK model was also significant (F = 45.736, R2 = 0.108, p < .022) with all
predictors significant except weekly minutes of moderate PA, education level, and participant
HRFK (p < .05). Conclusion: U.S. physical educators possess high levels of HRFK, however HRFK is
not a significant predictor of their teaching and assessing HRFK. Weekly vigorous PA, was the
strongest predictor, suggesting that teachers’ commitment to their own personal PA is critical to
teaching and assessing HRFK among their students. Further research should consider vigorous PA
along with other potentially related variables to more fully describe and predict physical educa-
tors’ teaching and assessment of HRFK.

Promoting lifetime physical activity (PA) is a global public of fitness and movement concepts, facilitate high amounts
health priority. Children between the ages of 5–19 years of student MVPA in classes, and model a physically active
old are considerably less physically active than previous lifestyle (Kohl & Cook, 2013).
generations, and childhood sedentary behavior is increas- An important factor in teachers’ ability to promote
ingly prevalent (World Health Organization, 2018). It is student learning of physical literacy is their accumulated
recommended that children engage in at least 60 minutes content knowledge of health-related fitness. Content
of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) knowledge in physical education has been a recent topic
each day (U.S. Department of Health and Human of study, and is considered to be the amount of knowledge
Services, 2008), and public health organizations consider teachers possess and expect students to learn per a given
school physical education to be an ideal place to not only subject area (Ward, 2013). According to research, tea-
contribute to daily MVPA, but also develop student chers with greater content knowledge are more effective
knowledge, skills, and attitudes for regular participation in teaching a variety of topics in physical education
in PA outside of school (Kohl & Cook, 2013). The Society (Iserbyt, Ward, & Martens, 2016), with student knowl-
for Health and Physical Educators (SHAPE) America edge and achievement of learning outcomes significantly
regards the promotion of lifelong PA as a priority in increasing as a result (Ward, Kim, Ko, & Li, 2015).
physical education, and has adopted the term, physical Regarding teaching physical literacy, teachers’
literacy, or “the ability, confidence, and desire to be phy- health-related fitness content knowledge (HRFK)
sically active for life” (The Aspen Institute, 2015, p. 9) to encompasses the knowledge of achieving and maintain-
describe the target of appropriate physical education pro- ing a health-enhancing level of physical fitness. The
gramming. To best promote physical literacy, physical available research related to teachers’ HRFK is scant,
education teachers are encouraged to teach knowledge but suggests that increased teacher HRFK is associated

CONTACT Ben D. Kern benkern@louisiana.edu School of Kinesiology, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, 225 Cajundome Blvd., Lafayette, LA 70506.
Stacy Imagbe is now at Louisiana State University. David Bellar is now at University of North Carolina Charlotte.
© 2019 SHAPE America
2 B. D. KERN ET AL.

with improvements in student HRFK (Hunuk, Ince, & and PA may affect students, as research has consistently
Tannehill, 2013) and an increase in teachers’ confi- shown teachers exert a strong influence on student
dence to educate students about health-related fitness behavior (Skinner & Belmont, 1993; Taylor &
in physical education classes (Hodges, Hodges Kulinna, Ntoumanis, 2007), and teachers’ role-modeling positive
Lee, & Kwon, 2017). Despite the apparent importance behaviors such as leading a physically active lifestyle
of teachers’ HRFK, studies show limited knowledge (Hills et al., 2015; Lumpkin, 2008) can positively impact
capacity among physical education teachers. For exam- student health. No research to date, however, has con-
ple, Castelli and Williams (2007) report that middle sidered how physical education teachers’ individual PA
school physical education teachers did not meet the behavior is related to their instructional practices
minimum 9th grade standard of HRFK on the South regarding HRFK.
Carolina Physical Education Assessment, and Santiago, Despite well-known deficiencies in children’s HRFK,
Disch, and Morales (2012) demonstrated that elemen- there is a scarcity of research regarding physical educa-
tary teachers on average scored below 60% on tests of tion teachers’ teaching and assessing of HRFK relative to
appropriate PA and HRFK. Studies of physical educa- a multitude of potentially influential variables, including
tion teachers also report limited teaching of HRFK. their individual HRFK, and their personal PA behavior.
Hodges et al. (2017) recently showed that physical Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine factors
education teachers acknowledge the importance of the related to physical educators’ teaching and assessment of
inclusion of HRFK in the curriculum, but admit not student HRFK. Specifically, the following research ques-
teaching HRFK on a regular basis. This apparent lack of tions guided inquiry: (a) How knowledgeable are physi-
consideration to teaching HRFK is noted in the United cal educators about health-related fitness? (b) How is
States and internationally (Cale, 2017) and may be their health-related fitness content knowledge and other
confounded by lagging or ineffective physical educator demographic variables associated with their teaching
professional development in appropriate HRFK and assessing of student HRFK? (c) In what way is
instruction (Alfrey, Cale, & Webb, 2012), despite the physical education teachers’ individual PA level related
availability of information about creative, student- to their teaching and assessing student HRFK?
centered approaches (Hastie, Chen, & Guarino, 2017).
Both deliberately teaching HRFK, along with asses-
Methods
sing student HRFK are critical factors in ensuring stu-
dents become physically literate (The Aspen Institute, To investigate physical educators’ HRFK, teaching and
2015), however no studies to date have measured both assessment of student HRFK, and personal PA behavior,
teachers’ HRFK and their instructional practices such a survey was constructed and distributed to a nationally
as the teaching and assessment of student HRFK. representative sample of U.S. physical education teachers.
Research over the past two decades shows persistent The University of Louisiana Lafayette institutional review
deficiencies in children’s HRFK (Keating et al., 2009) board approved all procedures prior to conducting the
which may limit their achievement of physical literacy research.
(Hills, Dengel, & Lubans, 2015) and achievement of
fitness standards (Hastie, 2017). Consequently, efforts
Participants
to improve student HRFK are critical, as studies of
individuals across the lifespan show that possessing The original sample frame of potential participants was
greater HRFK is associated with increased physical fit- generated by first randomly selecting one U.S. state from
ness and PA participation (Chen, Hammond-Bennett, each of the six regionally representative Society of Health
Hypnar, & Mason, 2018; Ferkel, Stodden, Judge, and Physical Educators (SHAPE) America districts: (a)
Griffin, & Hamman, 2015). Moreover, physical educa- Delaware [Eastern District], (b) Illinois [Midwest
tion teachers’ personal PA habits and behaviors may District], (c) Minnesota [Central District], (d) Utah
also be related to their instructional practices, including [Southwest District], (e) Virginia [Southern District],
the extent to which they teach and assess HRFK. and (f) Washington [Northwest District]. These inclusion
Research shows that teachers’ beliefs about what and criteria were chosen because each individual SHAPE
how students should learn predominantly guides their America district has an organizational structure and lea-
curricular and instructional choices (Bechtel & dership that lends a degree of commonality among tea-
O’Sullivan, 2007; Fullan, 2007; Kennedy, 2005), as well chers in respective U.S. states, thus enhancing sample
as their personal dispositions toward teaching (Diez, representativeness. It is worth noting however that at
2007; Kern & Graber, 2018). It is conceivable that the time of data collection in this study (September 2017
teachers’ personal health habits such as regular exercise —January 2018), there existed six SHAPE America
 RESEARCH QUARTERLY FOR EXERCISE AND SPORT 3

districts, but in March 2018 the Southwest and Northwest standards and corresponding grade-level outcomes
districts merged to form a new Western district. describe all that students in grades K-12 should know
Interested readers may visit www.shapeamerica.org/ and be able to do by the end of each grade in school, and
about/districts/for more information. the PE Metrics assessments include direct assessment of
Next, the National Center for Education Statistics each individual standard per key grade level clusters
[NCES], n.d.) Common Core of Data was accessed to (K-2, 3–5, 6–8, and 9–12). At the time of the study, the
select a stratified (by grade level) random sample of all PE Metrics assessments for the current SHAPE America
schools serving kindergarten through twelfth grade stu- standards (SHAPE America, 2013) were not available,
dents in each state. School level demographic information despite the standards and grade-level outcomes release
was also gathered, including locale description (urban, in 2013. Standards 3 and 4 (NASPE, 2004) are related
suburban, township, or rural), teacher to student ratio, specifically to health-related fitness knowledge and skills,
and percentage of low-income students in each school. and the PE Metrics assessments of standards 3 and 4
Individual work place-related email addresses of physical include 29 multiple choice test items shown to be valid
educators working in each selected school were manually and reliable collective measures of HRFK (Zhu et al.,
retrieved via official school websites. Each of the 2011). The 8th grade level of the PE Metrics standards 3
U.S. states selected required physical education to be and 4 assessment was chosen for this study because it
taught by licensed physical education specialists in ele- most closely matches the academic rigor of HRFK
mentary and secondary school at the time of the study, assessments that were used in previous studies that indi-
with the exception of Utah that required only secondary cated lower than expected HRFK of physical education
school specialist licensure (SHAPE America, 2016). All teachers (Castelli & Williams, 2007; Santiago et al.,
teachers in the subsequent sample frame (N = 3,305) were 2012). Ten items in total from PE Metrics were ran-
invited to participate in the study via an email message domly selected, five related to standard 3 and five related
which included a link to an electronic survey to standard 4, and included in the questionnaire. The
(SurveyMonkey®). Informed consent was obtained on number of items was limited to ten in order to optimize
the opening page of the survey, and a total of 863 physical the length of the survey, as it was determined that ten
educators consented to participate (26% response rate), of items would not only sufficiently test participants’
which all reported being licensed to teach physical educa- HRFK, but also reduce the survey completion time,
tion. Complete data were available for 796 participants, thus increasing the likelihood of acquiring fully com-
representing 92% completion rate. See Table 1 for more pleted surveys and improved response quality (Galesic &
detailed information regarding participant demographics. Bosnjak, 2009)

PECAT
Instrumentation
The Center for Disease Control’s (2006) Physical Education
The survey instrument included 33 items adapted from Curriculum Analysis Tool (PECAT) is designed for school
three separate questionnaires: (a) The PE Metrics stan- stakeholders to evaluate physical education programs with
dards 3 and 4 assessment, (b) the Physical Education regard to the curricular offerings and assessment of stu-
Curriculum Analysis Tool (PECAT), and the dents. The PECAT is organized around standards 1–6 of
International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). the 2004 SHAPE America standards grade-level outcomes.
Each of the sources contributing to the survey has been The items are sub-divided into grade-level clusters for
extensively evaluated, and each are individually consid- grades K—2, 3–5, 6–8, and 9–12, and for each standard
ered valid and reliable instruments for their respective there are four content analysis items to evaluate what is
measurement variables (Centers for Disease Control, taught in the program and four assessment analysis items
2006; Craig et al., 2003; Zhu et al., 2011). Additionally, for evaluating what students are assessed on in the program.
a 3-item demographic survey consisting of questions per- In total, sixteen items (8 teaching, and 8 assessment) com-
taining to participant gender, education level, and grade bined from standard 3 and 4 were included in the ques-
level taught was also included. tionnaire. While the PECAT teaching/assessing items are
aligned to standards 3 and 4, the individual items for each
PE Metrics standards 3 and 4 assessment grade-level cluster are different, therefore the survey flow
The PE Metrics battery of assessments were designed function in SurveyMonkey® was used to channel partici-
specifically to measure knowledge and skills related to pants to the specific PECAT items aligned to the grade-level
standards 1–6 of the 2004 SHAPE America standards of students they reported teaching in their current position.
and grade-level outcomes (National Association for The questionnaire items were adapted directly from the
Sport and Physical Education [NASPE], 2004). These PECAT questions included in each grade-level cluster and
4 B. D. KERN ET AL.

Table 1. Participant and school demographics by SHAPE America regional district and U.S. state sampled.
Eastern district Midwest district Central district Southwest district Southern district Northwest district
Total Delaware Illinois Minnesota Utah Virginia Washington
N = 796 (n = 26) (n = 186) (n = 144) (n = 51) (n = 240) (n = 149)
Participant demographics
Male 387 13 97 70 21 118 68
Female 409 13 89 74 30 122 81
Educational level
Bachelor’s degree 262 10 44 41 22 101 44
Graduate degree 534 16 142 103 29 139 105
Teaching experience
< 5 years 66 1 16 7 9 21 12
6–10 years 103 5 27 14 5 29 23
11–19 years 250 10 67 36 18 78 41
20–29 years 254 6 55 58 13 74 48
30 or more years 123 4 21 29 6 38 25
Grade level taught
K—2nd grade 136 5 32 25 9 40 25
3rd—5th grade 245 8 57 44 16 74 46
6th—8th grade 223 7 52 40 14 68 42
9th—12th grade 192 6 45 35 12 58 36
School demographics
% low-income 46.0% 39.3% 58.1% 44.3% 40.4% 46.5% 47.5%
Teachers per student 17.5 16.0 16.4 15.7 22.4 15.5 19.0
Urban 145 2 25 26 9 40 43
Suburban 360 10 109 45 29 104 63
Township 101 6 19 31 6 22 17
Rural 190 8 33 42 7 74 26
School demographic variables in this table mirror those included in the NCES school finder database, except for % Low income, which was calculated by
dividing the number of students receiving free or reduced lunch prices by the number of enrolled students in the school. Years teaching physical education
ranged from 1 year, including those in their first year of teaching, to 45 years.

set to a 4-point Likert scale for questions related to teaching self-report PA measure that has been used successfully
student health-related fitness (tHRFK) and a 3-point Likert in PA research world-wide (Craig et al., 2003). The
scale for questions related to assessing student health- IPAQ consists of a 7-day PA recall that is subdivided
related fitness (aHRFK). Questions related to tHRFK and into items assessing the hours/minutes of light, moder-
aHRFK were included in succession to help participants ate, and vigorous PA participated in each day. The
more accurately reflect upon their instructional practices. IPAQ questions from the short form were included in
For example, teachers of grades 3–5 were asked, “To what the survey, verbatim. Minutes per week of light, mod-
extent do you teach your students how to recognize and erate, and vigorous PA were then calculated based on
monitor intensity levels of a variety of activities?”, and the participant responses.
immediate next question was, “Do you assess students’
knowledge about different types of physical activities and
Statistical analysis
the difference between moderate and vigorous activities
they participate in during and outside of physical education The survey data were examined initially and incomplete
class?” Response choices to questions related to tHRFK data were removed list-wise from further analysis
were: (a) I thoroughly teach this, (b) I mostly teach this, (Hayes, 1998). All data analysis was conducted using
(c) I occasionally teach this, and (d) I do not teach this. a modern statistical software package (JMP 13.0 Pro.
Possible responses to aHRFK questions included (a) Yes, SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, 1989–2007). Descriptive
regularly, (b) Yes, sometimes, and (c) No, not at all. statistics are presented as means and standard devia-
A particular strength of utilizing PE Metrics and the tions for the demographic variables, (a) gender, (b)
PECAT in combination is the direct alignment of each education level, (c) state of residence, and (d) grade
to the content included in the SHAPE America content level instructed, as well as for the survey variables, (a)
standards, thus the reliability of the results should be HRFK test performance, (b) light PA, (c) moderate PA,
enhanced when considering the relationship of tea- (d) vigorous PA, (e) tHRFK, and (f) aHRFK. Individual
chers’ HRFK to their regularity in teaching and asses- and school level demographics of participants who
sing student HRFK. completed the survey are presented in Table 1.
The statistical models to be tested were determined
IPAQ a priori after review of the relevant literature. The
The 7-item short form of the International Physical primary data analysis was undertaken using multiple
Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) is a valid and reliable linear regression analytics. Significance of both model
 RESEARCH QUARTERLY FOR EXERCISE AND SPORT 5

and predictors were set at p < .05. The data were eight PECAT items related to tHRFK were totaled to
analyzed for multicollinearity through calculation of create an overall tHRFK score. Overall tHRFK scores
variance inflation factor (VIF) statistics with a cutoff ranged from 0 to 24, and participants reported an
of VIF > 5 used to define high multicollinearity. average of 14.38 ± 5.5 out of a possible high score of
Normal distribution of the residuals was examined 24. In order to explore factors associated with the
with Shapiro-Wilks test along with a visual inspection participants’ self-reported tHRFK, a linear regression
of Q-Q plots. Finally, a scatterplot of residuals vs actual model was tested with the following predictors: gender,
values was examined to check the assumption of education level, grade level taught, PA (Vigorous,
homoscedasticity. Moderate, Light) and HRFK. Overall, the tHRFK
Though the survey response rate in the current study model was significant (F = 10.919, R2 = 0.100, p
was acceptable for external national email surveys < .001). All VIF statistics were <1.2, indicating no issues
(Lindemann, 2018), a response-nonresponse analysis of multicollinearity, examination of Q-Q plot did not
was conducted in order to further increase confidence indicate issues with distribution of residuals nor did
in the results (Sax, Gilmartin, & Bryant, 2003). One- analysis of the scatter plot of actual vs predicted values
way analysis of variance (ANOVA) of all school level indicate any issues with heteroscedasticity. Within the
demographic variables (see Table 1) was run to deter- model, most predictors were significant with the excep-
mine whether respondents and non-respondents varied tion of weekly minutes of moderate PA, and partici-
significantly related to school locale, teacher to student pants’ HRFK (see Table 4).
ratio, or percentage of low-income students of their
respective schools. Each of these variables are shown
Assessing student health related fitness knowledge
to dramatically affect survey responses (Goyder,
Warriner, & Miller, 2002; Mertler, 2003), thus they Likert scale scores ranging from zero to two (0 = No,
were considered adequate for confidence testing. No I do not assess this; 1 = Yes, I sometimes assess this;
significant differences (p < .05) between respondents 2 = Yes, I regularly assess this) for each of the eight
and non-respondents were detected on school level aHRFK related PECAT items were totaled to create an
demographics, therefore nonresponse bias is unlikely overall aHRFK score. Overall aHRFK scores ranged
based on workplace demographics of participants from 0 to 16, and participants reported an average of
(Groves, 2006). 9.49 ± 3.5 out of a possible high score of 16. For the
purpose of exploring factors associated with the parti-
cipants’ self-reported aHRFK, a linear regression model
Results
was again tested with the following same predictors:
Overall, respondents scored 83.6% ±13.9 on the test of gender, education level, grade level taught, PA
HRFK and demonstrated relatively high amounts of (Vigorous, Moderate, Light) and HRFK. Overall, the
weekly PA, based upon IPAQ data (Light aHRFK model was significant (F = 45.736, R2 = 0.108,
PA = 173.3 ± 132.8; Moderate PA = 230.6 ± 231.3; p < .022). All VIF statistics were <2.7, likewise indicat-
Vigorous PA = 149.6 ± 108.9 min/week; Combined ing no issues of multicollinearity, and examination of
Moderate and Vigorous PA = 380.3 ± 288.1 min/ Q-Q plot did not indicate issues with distribution of
week). These results suggest that the participants’ residuals, nor did analysis of scatter plot of actual vs
HRFK is high, as compared to previous studies measur- predicted values indicate any issue related to hetero-
ing physical education teachers’ HRFK (Castelli & scedasticity. As with the tHRFK analysis, most of the
Williams, 2007; Santiago et al., 2012) and that they predictors in the aHRFK model were significant, except
engage in higher amounts of weekly PA than average weekly minutes of moderate PA, education level, and
U.S. adults (Blackwell & Clarke, 2018). Table 2 includes participants HRFK (see Table 5).
all PE Metrics questions that were used to measure
participant HRFK, and the percentage of correct
Discussion
responses. Table 3 includes more detailed information
on participant HRFK and weekly PA. The purpose of this study was to examine factors
related to physical educators’ teaching and assess-
ment of student HRFK. An initial look at the results
Teaching student health related fitness knowledge
reveals that participants’ individual HRFK was rela-
Likert scale scores ranging from zero to four (0 = I do tively high at the time of the study (mean > 80%
not teach this; 1 = I occasionally teach this; 2 = I mostly correct on PE Metrics), which contradicts the find-
teach this; 3 = I thoroughly teach this) for each of the ings of previous studies by Castelli and Williams
6 B. D. KERN ET AL.

Table 2. PE Metrics Questionnaire items and % of overall correct responses (N = 796).

% correct
PE Metrics items responses
1. Which of the following best describes a physically active lifestyle? 67.0%
● Runs a mile at least 2 days a week, takes piano lessons weekly, and walks the dog for 10 minutes every day.
● Plays golf, swims regularly and enjoys riding a bike.
● Walks a half-mile to and from school 5 days a week and helps with weekly chores at home.
● Participates daily in a personal fitness plan and plays in seasonal community sports leagues.
2. Which of the following plans is best for maintaining a physically active lifestyle? 73.0%
● Try to walk whenever possible, instead of riding in the car.
● Write a realistic personal physical activity schedule and follow it.
● Participate in some physical activity every weekend.
● Record all of your activities every day.
3. Which group of activities is most likely to improve your overall health-related physical fitness? 83.3%
● Swimming, biking & running.
● Using weight machines & free weights.
● Walking/jogging, stretching & weight training.
● Stretching, volleyball & softball.
4. You have kept a log of your physical activity for one week and have discovered that, on school days, you get little or no moderate-to- 95.2%
vigorous physical activity. Which of the following will best help to increase your level of physical activity?
● Perform additional chores at home at least 2 days a week.
● Work out more vigorously on weekends.
● Plan and participate in specific moderate-to-vigorous physical activity each day.
● Do everything on your schedule faster.
5. A test of health-related fitness that best provides information about your level of physical fitness includes the following: 94.0%
● Balance, coordination & body composition.
● Reaction time, agility & balance.
● Aerobic endurance, reaction time & speed.
● Aerobic endurance, flexibility & muscle endurance.
6. Flexibility and aerobic endurance improvements require performing specific exercises: 67.7%
● Most days of the week.
● Once a week.
● Two days per week.
● Three days per week.
7. The most important element in planning your workout is: 79.0%
● What you do after your workout.
● Setting realistic goals based on your fitness test scores.
● How long your workout should last.
● How often you can work out.
8. You can determine the intensity of a physical activity by: 93.7%
● Measuring time, distance or heart rate achieved during an activity period.
● Keeping a log of daily physical activities.
● Following a physical activity plan.
● Counting the number of participants in the activity.
9. The relationship of fat to lean tissue is a factor that is used to determine: 99.2%
● Flexibility.
● Body composition.
● Muscle strength.
● Aerobic capacity.
10. A training program for game performance includes a combination of high-quality skill practice and a workout plan to maintain 84.3%
personal levels of health-related fitness, including:
● Aerobic & muscle endurance.
● Height & weight.
● Coordination & reaction time.
● Flexibility & balance.

(2007) and Santiago et al. (2012) that reported con- irrespective of content area, held a postbaccalaureate
siderably lower teacher HRFK. This relatively high degree. The HRFK of the current participants, while
HRFK demonstrated by participants may be attribu- encouraging to the physical education field, may
table to a greater emphasis on health-related fitness represent a slightly inflated knowledge base of physi-
in both public health and physical education litera- cal education teachers sampled, particularly if it can
ture in the recent years. The elevated participant be accounted for by increased levels of education.
HFRK may also potentially be a function of their Nonetheless, the population of teachers in this study
education level, as approximately two-thirds of the is highly representative due the sampling procedures
participants reported possessing a graduate degree. In utilized, and from a national perspective, physical
comparison to national data, the U.S. Department of educators may possess greater HRFK than indicated
Education (McFarland et al., 2018) reported that in in previous research, as well as be more highly edu-
2015–2016, 57% of public school teachers, cated than their general education counterparts.
 RESEARCH QUARTERLY FOR EXERCISE AND SPORT 7

Table 3. Participant HRFK and PA by demographic variables—Mean (SD).

HRFK Light PA Moderate PA Vigorous PA Moderate to Vigorous PA
All participants (N = 796) 83.6% (13.9) 173.3 (132.8) 230.6 (231.3) 149.6 (108.9) 380.3 (288.1)
Gender
Male 85.0% (12.7) 167.7 (136.7) 230.8 (228.6) 157.5 (110.1) 388.3 (288.1)
Female 82.2% (15.0) 178.3 (129.0) 230.5 (234.1) 142.2 (107.5) 372.7 (288.4)
Educational level
Bachelor’s degree 83.3% (14.2) 175.3 (133.3) 222.2 (232.3) 139.2 (109.5) 361.3 (297.8)
Graduate degree 83.8% (13.8) 172.4 (132.9) 233.6 (229.7) 153.2 (106.6) 386.8 (279.5)
Teaching experience
< 5 years 81.1% (16.0) 194.3 (138.8) 261.7 (249.1) 158.2 (126.0) 419.9 (334.0)
6–10 years 82.9% (14.7) 171.8 (147.5) 253.3 (256.3) 173.9 (134.8) 427.1 (342.6)
11–19 years 84.8% (13.6) 165.3 (128.6) 232.7 (240.0) 147.5 (105.7) 380.2 (288.0)
20–29 years 83.1% (13.6) 163.8 (127.6) 198.8 (195.4) 138.7 (97.1) 337.4 (240.0)
30 or more years 84.3% (13.5) 198.8 (133.9) 253.7 (242.4) 152.4 (103.5) 406.0 (296.1)
Grade level taught
K—2nd grade 84.2% (13.7) 176.7 (139.9) 222.5 (215.4) 137.2 (106.0) 359.7 (274.6)
3rd—5th grade 84.7% (12.8) 181.2 (130.4) 242.0 (253.4) 154.0 (110.8) 395.9 (317.9)
6th—8th grade 82.9% (12.7) 171.7 (133.8) 236.6 (238.6) 154.0 (118.2) 390.6 (293.0)
9th—12th grade 83.0% (15.2) 164.7 (129.1) 220.5 (214.7) 150.4 (99.9) 371.0 (264.3)
HRFK = % correct on PE Metrics Standards 3 & 4
Light, Moderate, and Vigorous PA values represent the weekly minutes of physical activity as measured using the International Physical Activity
Questionnaire (IPAQ)
Moderate to Vigorous PA = weekly minutes of moderate + vigorous physical activity from the IPAQ.

Table 4. Result of multiple linear regression analysis for teach- promotes greater teaching effectiveness (Iserbyt et al., 2016)
ing student health-related fitness knowledge (tHRFK). and student achievement of learning outcomes (Ward et al.,
Predictor Standard Beta Probability Level 2015). However, since the direct effect of teachers’ HRFK
HRFK 0.006 .0861 on teaching effectiveness and student outcomes were not
Years of Teaching Experience 0.119 <.001*
Grade Level Instructed −0.074 0.033* measured, the study scope does not allow for this inference.
Education Level 0.079 0.022* Nevertheless, HRFK teaching effectiveness and subsequent
Gender 0.087 0.012*
Min/week Light PA 0.126 <.001* student achievement would seem unlikely in cases where
Min/week Moderate PA <-.001 0.997 teachers report limited teaching and assessing of HRFK.
Min/week Vigorous PA 0.162 <.001*
The linear regression model examined predictors associated with partici-
Additionally, individual differences in teaching context
pants self-reported teaching of health-related fitness to students (tHRFK). such as time pressures and other curricular demands were
A predictor in the model is the individual participants’ health-related not measured presently and may potentially impact tHRFK
fitness knowledge as measured by the PE Metrics standards 3 & 4 (HRFK).
*indicates predictor is statistically significant within the model. and aHRFK, thus future research should explore how the
context of teaching influences teaching and assessing of
HRFK in schools.
Table 5. Result of multiple linear regression analysis for asses- While teachers’ HRFK scores were high, the tHRFK
sing student health-related fitness knowledge (aHRFK). (14.38 ± 5.5 out of 24) and aHRFK (9.49 ± 3.5 out of
Predictor Standard Beta Probability Level
16) scores were low; the latter supporting a finding in
HRFK 0.015 0.669
Years of Teaching Experience 0.142 <.001* recent work by Hodges et al. (2017) that HRFK instruc-
Grade Level Instructed 0.076 0.029* tion by physical educators is limited. The low instruc-
Education Level 0.065 0.060
Gender 0.069 0.046* tional focus on student HRFK by physical educators,
Min/week Light PA 0.118 0.001* despite possessing more than adequate content knowl-
Min/week Moderate PA 0.058 0.057
Min/week Vigorous PA 0.162 <.001* edge, supports a notion that simply knowing health-
The linear regression model examined predictors associated with partici- related fitness is not enough to guarantee comprehen-
pants self-reported assessing of health-related fitness to students (aHRFK). sive health-related fitness instruction. Perhaps strong
A predictor in the model is the individual participants’ health-related
fitness knowledge as measured by the PE Metrics standards 3 & 4 (HRFK). beliefs toward the importance of and conviction to
*indicates predictor is statistically significant within the model. teaching and assessing HRFK may be more influential.
Teachers’ beliefs about the relative importance of sub-
ject matter has been shown to dictate teachers’ instruc-
Despite relatively high levels of HRFK demonstrated by tional foci (Hargreaves & Fullan, 2012; Kennedy, 2004),
participants in the current study, the results of multiple and in physical education this effect is magnified due to
regression analysis suggest that HRFK is not a significant increased isolation and the heightened control over
predictor of physical educators teaching and assessing stu- instructional decision-making physical educators exer-
dent HRFK. This finding would seem to contradict pre- cise (Kern & Graber, 2018; Whipp, Tan, & Yeo, 2007).
vious research indicating that increased content knowledge The data in this study suggest that knowledge alone is
8 B. D. KERN ET AL.

not the most influential factor, and other factors may study has been shown to be uncompromised by social
have a greater impact on teaching and assessing HRFK. desirability (Crutzen & Göritz, 2011). Given the high
While physical educators’ individual HRFK was not HRFK of participants, it is unlikely that they misunder-
associated with teaching and assessing of student stood the questionnaire, which would also impact results.
HRFK, their individual PA level was the strongest pre-
dictor of tHRFK and aHRFK. In particular, partici-
pants’ weekly minutes of vigorous PA had the What does this article add?
strongest predictive value (β = .162) for both teaching This article is the first to consider how physical educators’
and assessing of student HRFK. Since vigorous PA is knowledge of health-related fitness and personal PA level
more often associated with planned bouts of exercise, are associated with their instructional practices related to
this finding may suggest that teachers who demonstrate teaching and assessing student HRFK. The results confirm
a stronger commitment to their own individual health- that greater HRFK is associated with higher PA level
related fitness level by engaging in more vigorous PA among adults, and also offers a unique finding that content
are also more committed to ensuring student exposure knowledge of health-related fitness alone may not be
to and learning of HRFK. Interestingly, weekly minutes a critical determinant of physical educators’ instructional
of moderate PA was not a significant predictor of either focus; rather their personal PA behavior is a stronger indi-
tHRFK or aHRFK, and weekly minutes of light PA, cator of whether or not they emphasize health-related
a weaker predictor (β = .118). These results may point fitness learning in their classes. As a means of increasing
to a diminished importance of lower intensity PA as HRFK instruction in K-12 schools, physical education
a factor in physical education instruction, and poten- teacher education (PETE) programs may utilize the current
tially suggest that teachers who choose a more vigor- findings to offer more PA and exercise promotion pro-
ously active lifestyle may have stronger beliefs gramming to teacher candidates, in addition to content
concerning the importance of HRFK, and thus are knowledge learning in health-related fitness.
more likely to attempt to teach and assess HRFK with Furthermore, this study highlights a need to promote
their students. a greater focus on teaching and assessing student HRFK
Another interesting finding in the current study is the among both preservice and inservice teachers, as there
high level of PA reported by participants on the IPAQ self- appears to be a disconnect between the combination of
report PA survey. Participants reported weekly combined teachers’ knowledge and value of physical activity with
moderate and vigorous PA levels that far exceed the CDC’s their instructional practices that result in increased
recommendation for substantial health benefit of 150 to HRFK. An enhanced focus might include restructuring
300 minutes per week of moderate to vigorous PA for PETE course work and internship experiences, as well as
U.S. adults (Piercy et al., 2018). Additionally, the partici- increasing offerings of continuing professional develop-
pants narrowly missed meeting the previous 2008 recom- ment that include resources and practical strategies for
mendation for additional/extensive benefits of weekly delivering instruction that enhances student HRFK. This
vigorous PA of 150 min/week (U.S. Department of article also provides a basis for future research of the nature
Health and Human Services, 2008). The PA level of the of physical educators’ teaching of HRFK and resultant
participants in the study indicates that physical educators student outcomes such as HRFK and PA.
are a more active population than average U.S. adults
(Piercy et al., 2018), and taken together with their high
HRFK, supports previous research suggesting that higher Acknowledgments
HRFK is associated with increased fitness and PA level The authors declare they have no competing interests and do
(Ferkel et al., 2015). Given that most participants in the not wish to acknowledge any individuals or organizations.
study demonstrated high HRFK but only vigorous PA was
a strong predictor of tHRFK or aHRFK, speculatively, there
may be an additional role-modeling effect attributable to Funding
more active physical educators. The current study design No funding was provided for this project.
however, does not allow for conclusive evidence of a role-
modeling effect, but future research considering both tea-
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