Only 1 in 3 California students make the grade in physical-fitness test

Only about one in three students has earned a "healthy" score on California's physical-fitness test, according to annual data released Thursday.

About 1.32 million students were evaluated in grades five, seven and nine, about 91% of enrollment in those grades.

The 2010 test scores show that 28.7% of the students in grade five, 34.6% in grade seven, and 38.5% in grade nine rated as "fit" in all six areas of the test

In the test, a ninth-grade boy, for example, would be evaluated on his ability to run a mile within nine minutes and perform a minimum of 16 push-ups and 24 curl-ups within a specified time.

Physical-education programs have taken a beating in recent years because of a greater emphasis on test scores and ongoing budget pressures. Many elementary schools have limited supervised exercise and sports activities.

And class sizes for physical education at secondary schools sometimes swell to 50 or 60 students.

The data show little change from previous years: About a half-percentage-point decrease in fifth grade and about the same level of increase in grades seven and nine.

Nearly two-thirds of students had adequate scores in the important category of aerobic capacity.

The issue is of particular concern to state Supt. of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson, a fitness buff and former high school track coach. On Thursday, he announced the launch of a public-awareness campaign.

-- Howard Blume

Comments

[Emily]

Point of fact, secondary PE class sizes in many districts, including LAUSD swell much larger than 60. I have actually taught classes in the 80 to 90 range, with my biggest class ever having 92 students. For an ENTIRE year. But the district (and parents) assume that PE is merely for rolling out a ball, so they let this occur without any arguement. An average secondary English or Math teacher may have a total of 150 kids per semester, but a PE teacher often has to grade papers, tests and projects for 300+ students.

Lastly, the state accepted fitness test is the FitnessGram, and if you ask most PE teachers, they will admit that the tests involved in the FitnessGram are not the most accurate measurements of a child's level of fitness. Frankly, the test needs to change.

[EnemyOfTheState]

I could pass this test today, at 57 years of age, 6 years after congestive heart failure. What is wrong with this country today?

[David Foster]

What is the test, what are the guidlines, what do they have to do? That would be nice to know.

[california love]

These kids are getting too fat thanks to video games, the internet, and fatty food. That is the real problem. Stop blaming the teachers.

<3

[Disgusted In Los Angeles]

I'm sure that the LA Times will do their own "investigative" report on the P.E. teachers in LAUSD who were unable to get their students to achieve a "healthy" grade on this physical fitness test, publish the results, and call for these "under-performing" P.E. teachers to be fired. The School Board along with Cortines and Deasy will, of course, concur with this report from the Times and move to have these teachers removed from the teaching ranks.

[Melinda]

Do they use Fittness Gram 9? I thought the standards had been adjusted to be more accurate, especially body composition where BMI data for the NOW 3 zones more closely corresponds to CDCs BMI percentile ranges????? Their data on the website for version 9 is more impressive with the description of criteron based standards.

[Nataley]

This is scary! When did fitness get on the back burner of importance for children's education. Fitness needs to start in the home and continued in the education system. It should be part of a child's everyday life. Parents if you haven't so already, turn on ExerciseTV! They have all types of workouts for the family to enjoy, let's change these statistics!

[Rosario]

Not surprising! For too many elementary teachers, PE is giving the kids a handball. There is no physical warm-up drills, no skills taught, no rules and guidelines.

FYI - Elementary PE must provide a holistic approach of warm-up stretching/drills, skills, rules, instruction building from the easiest task to eventually more challenging skills. Students are capable of better results.

Challenge: If you don't like what's going on in public education - get into the schools and see for yourself what's going on! See what's going on school playgrounds!!!

[Ron Jones]

This is shameful and pathetic. NO EXCUSES! It needs to change and NOW before it is too late. What good are academic test scores if the kids graduate from high school with adult diseases and a lifetime of higher healthcare (SICKcare) costs for employers? California has data to show kids do better on test scores immediately after VIGOROUS physical activity! We have become a nation, not just a state, of overweight and out of shape people. The strongest survive. We'd better get to the business at hand if we want to be on the surviving end. Yes-I'm a fully credentialed CA teacher in PE, Health Science, and English. Give these obese kids a fighting chance with the correct social psychology to account for their poor conditioning and they WILL engage in fitness. I've done it. I've seen what they can do at the 2nd-6th grade level. Start young--we might have a chance with them at least.

[mrbwood]

Let's see, they can't read, they can't do EASY math, they can't behave, AND they can't do these minor physical tests.
I suppose this is the teachers fault too?

[6th grade teacher]

A parent asked me today during parent conference if PE was taught to her child...I told her I teach P.E. to 40 6th graders, and proceeded to tell her about the various sports(flag football, basketball, dance, and softball) we focus on and the skills taught...if only parents and people realize that P.E. is indeed taught in elementary, however 100 minutes per week isn't necessarily enough to improve student's gross motor skills or get them to be healthily fit. I still have 80% of sixth graders who can't run a mile under 12 minutes and still have difficulty with rudimentary skills such as skipping, grapevining, throwing, catching, etc. Yet, I am the bad guy when my students groan and complain that I don't allow Hot Cheetos, Apple Jacks, chocolate chip granola bars, or graham crackers as snacks because I tell them I would like them to eat a healthy snack that is not full of sugar or artificial flavoring.

But on a more positive note, I have a few students who have developed a love for fitness and took it to the next level by completing marathons and competing in sports in high school.