Before You Start

Select a PECAT coordinator, form a PECAT committee, and identify roles and responsibilities of each member.

• The PECAT coordinator will lead the PECAT committee through the curriculum analysis. This individual should have several years of experience in physical education as well as in curriculum development and improvement.
• An existing curriculum review committee, or some of its members, might be the most appropriate individuals to make up the PECAT committee.
  • The committee might include the physical education coordinator, state or district curriculum specialists, physical education teachers from elementary and secondary schools, college/university professors, parents, students, public health practitioners, health education teachers, and school administrators.
  • In addition to using any existing review committees, determine whether a school health council exists at the district or school building level. Individuals from the school health council are ideal partners for the curriculum review process. Consider whether one or two members from the school health council should serve on the committee and how the committee will work with the entire council.

Review curriculum materials, the PECAT, and any additional state or local standards.

• Once a coordinator and committee are selected, each member should receive a copy of the curriculum being reviewed and have access to the PECAT. This allows members to understand the framework of the curriculum as well as its contents. Each committee member should review the introduction, instructions for completing each analysis, national standards for physical education, local or state standards if different or in addition to the national standards, and the PECAT glossary.
• The PECAT committee should begin by completing the curriculum description form together.
• Finally, the committee should decide who will be responsible for completing the preliminary, content, and student assessment analyses for each grade-level range. You might have the entire PECAT committee work together on all grade-level ranges or you might form subcommittees with each completing one grade-level.

The rest of the steps for implementing the PECAT, including the Curriculum Description, Preliminary Considerations, Content and Student Assessments, Scoring, and Improvement Plan, are outlined in the print version of the PECAT.