The Physical Education Department at ASFM has developed a spiral and coherent curriculum using standards and benchmarks. The main source for developing the Physical Education Department standards and benchmarks document is Content Knowledge: A Compendium of Standards and Benchmarks for K-12 Education from Mid-continental Research for Education and Learning (McREL) and Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD).

The Physical Education Department document is a dynamic document and is under constant review to be sure it is meeting the needs of the educational community. The purpose of a Physical Education Department standards and benchmarks document is to clarify and raise expectations, and provide a common set of expectations for the entire educational community.

Physical Education is a required, fundamental course designed to develop each student physically, mentally and socially through participation in various individual and team activities. Skills and knowledge of rules applied to each sport or activity are heavily emphasized. The development of a lifetime interest in sports and other physical activities is a major goal for the program.

The Physical Education program works from a core concept that includes individual and team sports, as well as physical fitness. The main focus of team sports activities is to hone the physical skills required for each sport, as well as team awareness, sportsmanship and physical fitness. Individual sports/activities have a similar focus to that of team sports, with an added emphasis on developing and individual's self-awareness.

Physical Fitness consists of an evaluation of an individual's physical fitness, according to the Presidential Physical Fitness Test. It also works on improving an individual's personal physical fitness.

The Program

The program requires a time period of about two weeks to be spent working on each sport. The first four or five days are used to teach fundamentals and rules, as well as to develop skills. In the following days, these rules and skills are applied during a game. Participation is strongly encouraged. The teacher can also assign projects or quizzes.

Values

During a Physical Education class, values play an important role. The values are all implicit in the development of the class, but it is important for the teacher to make sure that all these do take place. Cooperation, sportsmanship, respect, punctuality, honesty, identity, and others.