ABSTRACT

Redesign is strategic when it proceeds with research and development partnerships involving schools, universities, community organizations and governmental agencies. Private sector R & D provides partial guidance because needs remain for the equivalent of product warranties for suitably designed and implemented physical education (PE) programs and teacher education program programs (PETE). Unfortunately, PETE doctoral program terminations and cut-backs in American research universities have created an R & D capacity shortfall. Meanwhile, many PETE researchers are committed to continuous program improvement, not bold redesign. For these reasons, the redesign part of the R & D agenda will be carried by Kinesiology R & D specialists–and increasingly with researchers from public health, medicine, social work, and psychology. While PETE-specific research promises to augment and defend today’s programs, other investigators will be instrumental in the development of theory and research for PE’s redesign. Like opposite sides of the same coin, these two research directions structure PE’s R & D and facilitate the social organization of researchers. Simultaneous renewal partnerships, which enable schools, community organizations, and governmental agencies to learn, improve, and generate knowledge, provide R & D structural support and operational mechanisms Growing policy imperatives for outcomes-oriented, evidence-based policy and practice facilitate this redesign move to formal R & D partnerships.