State and national organizations recently developed policies focused on increasing physical activity (PA) in afterschool programs (ASPs). These policies emphasize "activity friendly" environment characteristics that, when present, should lead to higher levels of PA and reduce the amount of time children spend sedentary during an ASP. Currently, little is known about the impact of existing PA policies on children's PA and sedentary behaviors in ASPs. A sample of 18 community-based ASPs serving 1,241 children (5-12 years) were audited for environment features outlined in existing PA policies (i.e., presence of a written policy to promote PA, collecting child feedback, staff training to promote PA and the quality of that training, holding parent workshops, use of PA curricula, evaluating PA, allocating time in the schedule for PA opportunities, and providing activities that appeal to both boys and girls). Children's PA and sedentary behavior were measured via accelerometry. Unexpectedly, the presence of a written policy, collecting child feedback, and receiving 1 to 4 hours of staff training for PA was associated with an increase in time spent sedentary and a decrease in PA. Conversely, allocating 50% or more time in an ASP schedule for PA and providing activities that appealed to boys and girls was associated with a decrease of time spent sedentary and an increase in PA. The present state of practice in ASPs suggests that policy environment characteristics are largely unrelated to the amount of PA children accumulate while attending ASPs.

Little research has examined mechanisms leading to the utilization of compulsory physical education content in future contexts. This study tested a model in which motivation to be in physical education class functions as a predisposition influencing perceptions of teacher communication of content relevance, perceptions of course relevance to one’s personal life, affect for physical education and intentions to apply class content in the future. High school students (N = 636) enrolled in compulsory physical education classes completed questionnaires assessing each of these variables. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses indicated the questionnaire items were adequate indicators of the five constructs. Structural equation modeling with diagonally weighted least squares estimation supported the hypothesized model. The results suggest that continued use of knowledge and skills learned in physical education might hinge on teachers making physical education appealing to students and communicating how class content connects with students’ personal interests.

To validate the modified System for Observing Fitness Instruction Time to measure teacher practices related to physical activity promotion (SOFIT+) in physical education (PE) amongst 5-6-year-old-children. Participants (n = 162, 53% female, 6.0 ± 0.3 yrs) were recruited from 9 schools. Video-recordings of 45 PE lessons from 9 teachers/coaches were coded using a modified SOFIT+. Accelerometers measured children's moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). Validity was assessed via multinomial regression measuring the relationship of both SOFIT+ index score and individual teaching practices with children's MVPA. Inter-rater reliability was examined. A 1 unit increase in the SOFIT+ index was associated with increased likelihood to engage in 10-19 sec, 20-29 sec and 30-40 sec of MVPA, compared to 0-10 sec. Most of the observed teaching practices were significantly related to children's MVPA. Inter-rater percentage of agreement ranged between 88.8% and 99.7%. SOFIT+ is a valid and reliable assessment of teaching practices related to MVPA promotion in PE amongst 5-6-year-old-children.

Affective learning is a major focus of the national K-12 physical education (PE) content standards (National Association for Sport and Physical Education [NASPE, 2004]). Understanding how students might fit into different affective learning subgroups would help extend affective learning theory in PE and suggest possible intervention strategies for teachers wanting to increase students’ affective learning. The present study used cluster analysis (CA) and latent profile analysis (LPA) to develop a two-level affective learning-based typology of high school students in compulsory PE from an instructional communication perspective. The optimal classification system had ten clusters and four latent profiles. A comparison of students’ class and cluster memberships showed that the two classification procedures yielded convergent results, thus suggesting distinct affective learning profiles. Students’ demographic and biographical characteristics, including gender, race, body mass index, organized sport participation, and free time physical activity, were helpful in further characterizing each profile.

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