The Virginia Board of Education has unanimously approved an initiative that will make Unified Physical Education an official alternative to traditional physical education classes.
The decision comes after a student-led organization, MATCH UP, petitioned the state board for several months to make Unified PE an official credit for graduation.
MATCH UP — which stands for Maternal and Child Health Upliftment and Progress — is a student-led group, with most of its leadership team from Charles Colgan High School in Prince William County.
Unified PE is a gym class that brings together students with special needs or intellectual disabilities and students from general education.
Before the Aug. 28 decision by the state Board of Education, students could participate in Unified PE, but only for elective credit – not for official credit to satisfy the health and physical education requirement in order to graduate.
Students can now earn physical education credit for a portion of ninth and 10th grade PE/Health through Unified PE. The class allows students to engage in activities that break down barriers, promote acceptance and understanding and foster a more inclusive school environment.
Previously, Prince William County Public Schools offered Unified PE as an elective course for 11th and 12th grade students at nearly every high school, while all students were still expected to take regular health and PE toward their graduation requirement.
The state board’s approval means that Unified PE classes, when offered, will now count for graduation requirements and can replace regular Health and PE, even among ninth and 10th graders.
The change allows students in unified PE to earn credit for the PE portion of the health/PE course but not the entire course. Divisions that choose to utilize unified PE as a substitute course for PE must have options for students to meet the expectations of the Health Standards of Learning and Driver Education Standards of Learning.
Unified PE does not replace adapted PE services that are designed to meet the unique needs of students with disabilities; adapted PE services may be embedded within the unified PE class.
Colgan High School Assistant Principal and MATCH UP Advisor David Parrish encouraged the group to advocate for this change.
“MATCH UP has been such a supportive and understanding group. These students understand how meaningful Colgan culture is to our community. They also recognized the value of our Unified Physical Education class and the Unified spirit in general,” Parrish said in a news release from the school division. “We are so proud of their advocacy and leadership. Colgan High School is a special place because of how these young people and our entire school community, open their hearts and minds to acceptance and friendship.”
Prince William County Public Schools has also adopted Unified Sports, a program in which junior varsity and varsity athletes join with students with disabilities to create teams to compete across the school division in different sports.
Rania Lateef, founder and president of MATCH UP, a senior at Colgan High School, said she and the other leadership team members attended the meeting at which the board passed their initiative.
“We were thrilled with the result,” Lateef said. “Honestly, it’s a huge step forward in promoting inclusive education and ensuring that our students with disabilities have equal access to fulfilling and meaningful physical educational experiences.”
Lateef runs the organization alongside other Prince William and Fairfax County students. She founded it the summer before her freshman year, in 2021.
Colgan High School made unified PE an elective option for students during Lateef’s junior year of high school, but she said she was never able to take the class because her schedule was too full to be able to take the elective course if it wouldn’t count toward graduation.
Lateef said she knew “the best way to expand the scope of the program” was to allow the required ninth and 10th grade PE to offer Unified PE as a substitute.
“The lobbying process was quite involved and really at many points looked like an uphill battle that we might lose,” Lateef said.
After several months of speaking with state education officials, seeking advice from local education officials such as Superintendent LaTanya McDade and speaking to the Board of Education, the group’s work came to fruition.
With the vote from the state board, Lateef said she not only hopes that more students get involved with Unified PE but that other students take inspiration from her group’s advocacy.
“Our success also demonstrates how collective advocacy can lead to real, lasting change in our education system,” she said.
Zaib Zahir, a junior at the Flint Hill School in Fairfax County, joined MATCH UP at its founding. She said growing up with parents who are doctors influenced her to want to help people in any way she can.
Part of the inspiration to push for the Unified PE initiative, Zahir said, was educating general education students.
“Knowing how to interact with peers in special education is so important, because in the real world, we will have to do that, and some people just don’t know how,” Zahir said.
While Zahir has not been able to participate in Unified PE because her school hasn’t offered it, she said she hopes the news that the class will count toward graduation will encourage more students to participate.
Being able to take an issue the group cared about – Unified PE – and bring it to fruition with the state Board of Education vote is still hard for Zahir to fathom, she said.
“Enough work, enough knowledge, enough minds, brains put together, we can truly do what we want to and I think that might be able to show others that they can do the same thing,” Zahir said.