In 2002 the kentucky state department of education and department of wildlife piloted the kentucky archery in the schools program to introduce school-age students to target archery education, and to…

In 2002 the kentucky state department of education and department of wildlife piloted the kentucky archery in the schools program to introduce school-age students to target archery education, and to encourage more participation in shooting sports. The program set out to develop a curriculum in which students would receive hands-on lessons covering basic archery skills in school, during their physical education classes. The lessons are taught by schoolteachers to students in grades 4-12. The program is intended to encourage youth participation in wildlife associated recreation and other archery-related activities such as BOW hunting. The program in kentucky successfully expanded, and as a result, a national archery in the schools program nasp) was created to give other states the opportunity to bring a model archery-education program into schools physical education classes. A two-phase evaluation for nasp involving a sample of students and teachers from 10 states teaching the program indicated that 30% of the students reported that they are more interested in hunting and other shooting sports since taking the archery program in school. In october of 2005, the department of fish and wildlife cdfw), office of communication, education and outreach oceo) adopted the kentucky model and trained 21 physical education teachers and 13 volunteer instructors to implement nasp in california - hereinafter referred to as calnasp. Subsequently, in year 2006, cdfw piloted the calnasp for one year with 15 northern california schools with teachers and students ranging from elementary, middle, and high schools. During this time, 2,135 students were introduced to archery education 14 out of the 15 schools indicated they would continue the program. By the end of 2007, the calnasp expanded to approximately 350 schools with thousands of students learning basic archery skills. In addition to schools adopting target archery as a taught PE curriculum or elective class, some have also implemented calnasp as an after-school-outdoor club in which students can explore other outdoor recreational activities with archery as a component. Furthermore, calnasp continues to operate under the agency volunteer model and has grown from 40 volunteer instructors in 2018 to 240 in 2023. Of these instructors, 5 are available to train more teachers to deliver and grow the program across the state. In the past, the program operated with small donations from conservation and archery associations and other community groups. However, with a more stable funding base, the program is no longer isolated to a few counties we are seeing expansion of the program into more counties statewide, currently reaching 41 of the 58 counties in california. With the growth of calnasp, cdfw had an influx of schools requesting target archery programs that extend into college campuses. After extensive research, in 2023, cdfw found a scholastic target archery program based in california that extends into college and to the olympics. The program is called olympic archery in schools OAS) and is a product of the easton foundation. Cdfw, in an effort to retain student archers beyond high school when nasp ends, found the need to add a second option for schools to consider when adopting target archery programs. Nasp for schools looking to incorporate target archery in grades 4-12, and OAS for schools looking to adopt target archery for grades 6 to collegiate olympic levels. Starting in 2024-25, calnasp becomes the california scholastic archery program csap) and focuses on helping california schools adopt target archery into PE or elective curriculums from one of two programs that work best for their students and campuses.