Human Kinetics Acquires PE Central Online School

By Human Kinetics, Champaign, IL

APRIL 2023

The PE Central Online School is under new ownership. Human Kinetics (HK), the premier publisher of K-12 and higher education resources for physical education (PE), health education, adapted physical activity, and dance, acquired the online school effective March 31.

The PE Central Online School has been offering professional development for health and physical educators since 2015 and features more than 100 courses geared primarily to physical educators. The addition of the PE Central Online School is part of Human Kinetics’ ongoing commitment to provide quality training and professional development resources for teachers of health, physical education, adapted physical activity, and dance.

Mark Manross, Acquisition Editor for Human Kinetics and former creator and director of the PE Central Online School, will remain engaged in planning and developing new courses for the online school.

“I am so excited that Human Kinetics has acquired the PE Central Online School,” Manross said. “This is the perfect landing place as HK will take the school to a new level with our reach and passion for providing high quality resources and online professional development for physical education teachers. I am looking forward to continuing to build new and exciting courses that allow K-12 physical education teachers to grow and learn while allowing them to earn credit for their teaching recertification license.”

Skip Maier, CEO of Human Kinetics, noted: “Over the last few years we’ve had a strategic goal to expand professional development opportunities for K-12 educators, and the acquisition of the PE Central Online School aligns perfectly with that goal. I’m happy to welcome the authors and educators that are currently engaged with the school to the HK family.”

Manross and the Human Kinetics product development team will work together with authors and contributors to expand the PE Central Online School to include additional new high-quality professional development courses.

In addition to this acquisition, Human Kinetics has published several new professional development online courses for K-12 health, PE, and dance teachers over the past year and will continue to create more of these resources moving forward.

ABOUT HUMAN KINETICS

Founded in 1974, Human Kinetics is the information leader in physical activity and health. As the premier publisher for sports and fitness products, HK publishes textbooks, books for consumers, instructor support materials, journals, online courses, video, digital products, and more.