A study sought: (1) to discover the size of the physical education curriculum gap between theory and practice by determining the percentage of the schools studied used recommended procedures; (2) to determine if school size had any influence on teachers using recommended procedures; (3) to discover the size of the theory practice gap by determining what percent of instructors practiced recommended procedures; (4) to gather information from teachers as to why they chose not to use recommended practices; and (5) to determine if school size, teacher gender, and teaching experience and inservice education had any influence on teachers' use of recommended practices. Results support the widely held notion that a gap exists between instructional theory and practice. That gap, as reported by 228 instructors from a random sample of 20 Illinois secondary schools, is at least 35-40 percent in terms of regular use of recommended planning, practice, and evaluation procedures; teaching approaches; and teaching/learning environments. The reason most often stated by physical education teachers for not using recommended procedures was that "it was not necessary" (42 percent). School size, teaching experience, and inservice education were all found to be linked positively with the use of recommended practices. Tables presenting study data are appended. (JM)