Denver schools with large numbers of English learners get less physical education

Students in Denver elementary and K-8 schools where half or more students are English language learners get less physical education time than students at other district schools.

While most students get 72-75 minutes of physical education a week, students at schools with high proportions of English language learners got 50 minutes a week on average, according to results from a recent district survey.

District officials say they plan to investigate the cause of the disparity this year and suspect it could be because more time is dedicated to special programming to help students learn English at those schools.

Capucine Chapman, the district’s arts and physical education director, said while all students deserve access to high quality physical education, we’re “sensitive and aware that it’s a balancing act. Schools have their own demographics, their own needs.”

Not all schools with sizable English language learner populations had fewer physical education minutes. Those with 34 to 47 percent English learners had almost exactly the same physical education time as schools with few such students.

The discrepancy only appeared for schools with 48 percent or more English language learners.

The finding about physical education time was part of a larger presentation on physical education given to the Denver school board this month.

The presentation also spotlighted a pilot program focused on gleaning more detailed information about physical education programming from five schools this year. One of schools — McGlone — is an elementary school where 55 percent of students are English Language Learners. Two others are secondary schools with even higher proportions of English Language Learners — Bruce Randolph School and Respect Academy at Lincoln High School.

The data survey and the pilot program are both part of the district’s five-year physical education plan, PE 2020. Chapman said the district is working on the plan with input from the PE For All Colorado coalition, which includes a host of health and advocacy groups such as Padres & Jovenes Unidos, LiveWell Colorado and the Colorado Children’s Campaign.