Reprinted from
PALAESTRA, Winter 2003
The roots of adapted physical education can be traced as far back as the mid- I 800's when physicians prescribed Remedial Exercises in an attempt to correct or ameliorate deficiencies or handicaps. Subsequently, the field of adapted physical education has gone through a variety of transformations over the intervening century and a half. Most importantly, a great deal of research has developed effective pedagogy addressing needs of persons with disabilities in physical education. The professional preparation of those providing both physical education and adapted physical education has evolved to exacting levels. Finally, it is important to recognize that legislatively the government has recognized persons with disabilities as those who simply possess different abilities from the mainstream. As such, persons with disabilities are being afforded equal rights to a free and appropriate education, as well as opportunities afforded the rest of society. Appropriate professional preparation is necessary to develop and provide services beneficial to persons with disabilities. Current literature suggests persons with disabilities are most often included within the general physical education setting; however, personnel who demonstrate qualifications necessary to deliver appropriate services remain unrecognized.
In light of recent demands calling for educational accountability, along with an increasing number of states mandating minimum state learning objectives within professional preparation, as well as competency testing prior to receiving subject matter certification to teach, the time has come for those trained and charged with providing quality adapted physical education services to become certified as specialists possessing unique skills and insights needed in teaching persons with disabilities in physical education.
'The Adapted Physical Education National Standards (APENS) establish a foundation of the content knowledge base necessary to meet the educational demands of students with disabilities in physical education. In addition, APENS, like the National Athletic Trainers Association and the Therapeutic Recreation Society, have created a proven method for certifying professionals as having met minimum professional standards to serve those needing adapted physical education. Additionally, those certified provide in-service training to teachers of general physical education where the majority of students with disabilities are placed. At present, there are over 14,000 public school districts serving approximately 5.2 million children with disabilities in the United States (USDOE, 2002). The present mission of APENS is to place a Certified Adapted Physical Educator (CAPE) in every one of the public school districts. Although a daunting task, the concern for many of the 5.2 million children with disabilities lies in the lack of qualified adapted physical educators for a school district to hire. Existing general physical educators possessing little experience or training are often left to teach students with disabilities. Additionally, the majority of states do not offer a certification in adapted physical education or require certification to teach adapted physical education. The 15 Standards detailing the comprehensive knowledge base adapted physical educators should know is available for adapted physical education and general physical education teachers to review, study, and ultimately test for certification. Districts unable to hire or find qualified adapted physical educators should at the very least provide the opportunity for and encourage existing general physical educators to team the 15 Standards and stand for CAPE certification.
The purpose of the APENS project is to ensure physical education instruction for students with disabilities is provided by qualified physical education instructors (Kelly, 105). The need evolved from various pieces of Federal legislation, including PL 101-476, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). This law mandates physical education services (specially designed if necessary) must be made available to every child with a disability receiving a free appropriate education. Unfortunately, the rules and regulations stopped short of defining who was qualified to provide these services. As used in this part (rules and regulations), qualified means a person has met State educational agency approved or recognized certification, licensing, registration, or other comparable requirements which apply to the area in which he or she is providing special education or related services (Section 121a.12, Federal Register, 1977).
The definition of who is qualified to provide physical education services to individuals with disabilities was left to the individual states and their respective certification requirements based on the assumption the definition currently existed. Unlike other special education areas (teachers of individuals with mental retardation, learning disabilities, etc.), most states unfortunately did not have defined certifications for teachers of adapted physical education. While 14 states subsequently defined an endorsement or certification in adapted physical education, the majority of states and eight territories (n = 44) have not defined the qualifications teachers need to provide adapted physical education services for students with disabilities (Cowden &Tymeson, 1984; Kelly, 1991).
In the Spring of 1991, the National Consortium for Physical Education and Recreation for Individuals with Disabilities (NCPERID) in conjunction with the National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE) and Special Olympics International conducted an Action Seminar on adapted physical education for state directors of special education and leaders of advocacy groups for individuals with disabilities (NASDSE, 1991). This conference had two goals: (a) identify the barriers preventing full provision of appropriate physical education services to individuals with disabilities; and (b) establish an action agenda for addressing and resolving these problems. Although numerous barriers were identified by the group, the most significant for state education leaders were: a) they did not know what adapted physical education was; b) how individuals with disabilities could benefit from appropriate physical education programming; and c) what competencies teachers needed to deliver appropriate physical education services to students with disabilities. In response to these needs, it was recommended NCPERID develop professional standards and a means for evaluating these standards. The end products could then be used by state and school administrators, as well as parents to communicate the need for adapted physical education and to evaluate who was qualified to provide physical education services to students with disabilities.
The Action Seminar recommendations were presented to NCPERID's Board in the Summer of 1991. The Board voted unanimously to assume responsibility for developing national standards for the field (NCPERID, 1991). A committee was created, with the NCPERID President as Chair, and charged with developing a plan for creating national standards. To this end, NCPERID prepared and submitted a special project proposal (Kelly, 1992) to the United States Department of Education (USDE), Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS), and Division of Personnel Preparation (DPP) in the Fall of 1991. This grant was funded in July of 1992 and provided funding for five years to develop national standards and a national certification examination for the profession to ensure physical education instruction for students with disabilities is provided by qualified physical education instructors. This purpose was designed to be achieved by addressing two goals: (a) development of national standards for the field of adapted physical education; and (b) develop a national certification examination to measure knowledge of the standards.
The first two years of the project focused on developing the national standards. The first year was devoted to conducting job analysis to determine roles and responsibilities adapted physical educators were being asked to address in their jobs. The second year focused on developing and validating content standards based upon these roles and responsibilities. The third year involved developing and evaluating a database of over 2,000 test questions to measure the standards. The fourth year was devoted to conducting a national validation study on the test items. Finally, the fifth year focused on creating and administering the first national certification exam.
On May 10, 1997, the first national administration of the APENS certification exam was given at 46 sites across the country. One hundred seventy-five out of a total of 219 teachers completed and passed the exam. On July 16, 1997, the APENS project was officially transferred from OSERS (grant #H029K20092-97) at the University of Virginia to NCPERID.
Findings suggested there is a wealth of strong evidence to indicate inferences from the APENS National Certification Exam test scores are valid. In fact, literature collected for this study included an exhaustive review of other national organizations currently offering voluntary national certification exams. Overwhelmingly, the APENS project exceeded the recommended test development steps established in the literature. In doing so, the steps followed insured the inferences made from the APENS National Certification Exam test scores were in fact valid.
Over the next three years, APENS will be undertaking the following
APENS is currently winning endorsements from a variety of National organizations. This growing recognition forms the backbone of a program to gain professional recognition and commensurate compensation from school districts across the nation. APENS will soon make available a CD-ROM with the complete National Standards, the Study Guide, and a practical guide for getting local school boards to recognize CAPE as a professional specialty to be compensated accordingly.
NCPERID and APENS applaud those readers who have become CAPES thus far, and strongly urge those who have not to add their voices and strengthen the certification movement by becoming a CAPE in the near future.
Timothy A Davis, PhD, CAPE, is a professor of physical education at SUNY Cortland and currently coordinates NCPERID's APENS certification program for adapted physical education. For further information contact him at E253 Park Center, SUNY Cortland, Cortland, IVY 13077; (607) 753-4969; or APENS@cortland.edu.