The Role of Higher Education to Foster Certified Adapted Physical

Abstract

A shortage of Certified Adapted Physical Educators(CAPEs) has been reported since 1975. Currently, only 57universities in the U.S. offer an Adapted Physical Education(APE) major in either undergraduate or graduate level and21 states do not have any universities offering an APE major. This study examines differences between states withand without universities offering an APE major with regardto the relationship of the number of CAPEs and the number of students with disabilities taking special education.Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) test statistics revealed a statistically significant difference betweenstates with universities offering an APE major comparedto states without universities offering an APE major on themultivariate mean of number of CAPES and number of stu- dents with disabilities, F(2, 48) = 5.918, p = .005, η2 = .198.Roy-Bargmann step-down procedure revealed a statistically significant difference in the population of students withdisabilities taking special education between states withand without an APE major, F(1, 49) = 10.106, p = .003. Thesecond step ANCOVA revealed a non-significant differencein the number of CAPEs after controlling for the size of thepopulation of students with disabilities, F(1,48) = 1.605, p= .211. There was a significant difference between stateswith and without universities offering an APE major on themultivariate mean of the number of students requiring APEservice and the number of CAPEs. The population of students had influenced whether the state had any universities providing an APE major.