Verbal Assessments in Physical Education

by Tammy Berry, PE Specialist

Mr. Schmeichel and I are in the process of working on improving on our reporting process by conducting verbal interviews with specific grades of Physical Education students every term.

Our focus questions are as follows:

1) How does an Interview / Conversation (recorded and shared) based Term Assessment allow the students a deeper understanding of the PE programs goals as well as their own areas of strength / areas for improvement?

2) How is this form of assessment and parent feedback a more effective means of communication (compared to the written term-ending comments) for parents with regards to their son/daughters’ progress in PE?

Why are we doing this in PE?

Ultimately many of the outcomes will relate directly to our daily practice as well as the students' experiences and learning. We want to become better teachers, better communicators, better at using technology and a variety of resources to further our practice. We want our students to be healthier, have a higher degree of fitness, and understand where they can improve and take advantage of their strengths on a daily basis. We want the parents to more fully understand their child’s progress as well as improve the communication between teacher-student-parent.

How will we know if we have achieved our goal?

When the feedback from the student, parent and teacher surveys come back and the data is compiled, we will get an understanding of the student/parent/teacher’s perspective on the value of this type of assessment as it relates to student understanding and parent communication.

We welcome your comments and feedback. Please email us at:

Dean Schmeichel or Tammy Berry.