Instructional Alignment in Physical Education Student Teachers’ Lesson Plans for Individual Sports

Purpose : The purpose of the study was to investigate the instructional alignment of unit and lesson plans in physical education. Methods : Unit and lesson plans of 31 student teachers from one Physical Education Teacher Education program were analyzed. Trained coders assessed the quality and alignment of unit goals and lesson outcomes, assessments, and tasks. Interobserver reliability was 93% based on the full sample. Results/Discussion : Only 7% of unit goals ( n = 145) were assessable and feasible. There was strong alignment between unit goals and assessment in 61% of the sample. Only 26% of unit goals were assessed. For lesson outcomes ( n = 476), only 8% were assessable and feasible. For tasks ( n = 1,806), 51% of the sample were strongly aligned with lesson outcomes and 50% with unit goals. Conclusion : There was limited instructional alignment in unit and lesson plans. Providing more support for student teachers to improve their instructional alignment is needed.