Assessing Instructional Confidence of Secondary Health Educators in Illinois: Implications for Curricular and Policy Development
To assess the relationship between the training/preparation of physical education teachers and their perceivedinstructional confidence levels across major topic areas established by the Illinois State Board of Education ascritical content areas. In total, 283 individuals participated and were included in the data analysis. The participantssurveyed were currently enrolled or recently graduated from physical education or kinesiology departments at (1.)the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, (2.) Illinois State University, and (3.) Eastern Illinois University.Data were collected via in-person and email surveys using the HECS 18 item survey instrument. Analysisdemonstrated a statistically significant difference exists between the perceived instructional confidence of currentstudents and recent graduates regarding major health topic areas. Further work with this population is required todetermine if the results seen in the state of Illinois are consistent. The next proposed sample area will be the state ofColorado and its three main Universities (University of Colorado, Colorado State University, Metropolitan StateUniversity of Denver) and their health and physical educators (HPE).