Fitnessgram Tests


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Fitnessgram Tests

Fitnessgram Tests

EL CAJON—With only 31 percent of students posting healthy scores in all six areas of the latest Physical Fitness Test, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson joined NBA all-star Bill Walton today in urging schools across California to take part in the Team California for Healthy Kids campaign.

"Today's results are clear: when only 31 percent of children are physically fit, that's a public health challenge we can't wait to address," Torlakson said. "That's where our Team California for Healthy Kids campaign can make a world of difference, by helping make healthy choices the easy choices, at school and beyond."

Torlakson and Walton discussed the public awareness campaign at a news conference at Grossmont High School in El Cajon, where they also released the results of the state's 2011 Physical Fitness Test.

The 2011 Physical Fitness Test was administered to 1.34 million students representing 93 percent of pupils enrolled in fifth, seventh, and ninth grades (Table 1). New standards have been established for the aerobic capacity and body composition fitness areas. Under the new criteria for aerobic capacity and body composition, these fitness areas are broken down into three categories: (1) In the Healthy Fitness Zone® (HFZ®), (2) Needs Improvement (i.e., not in HFZ®), and (3) Needs Improvement — High Risk (i.e., not in HFZ® — High Risk). In the last four fitness areas of abdominal strength, trunk extensor strength, upper body strength, and flexibility, performance is classified into two general areas: (1) In the HFZ® and (2) Needs Improvement. A score in the HFZ® indicates the student's level of fitness is sufficient for good health.

While aerobic capacity is an indicator of physical fitness, body composition is perhaps the most important indicator of who will develop future health problems. The results show 34.1 percent of grade five students, 30.3 percent of grade seven students, and 25.0 percent of grade nine students are categorized as High Risk (Table 1).

Table 2 provides a bridge for comparisons between the previous year's results with the 2011 data by applying both the 2010 and 2011 standards to the aerobic capacity and body composition scores for those students tested in 2011.  

To score in the HFZ®, the test requires, for instance, that a five-foot six-inch, 150-pound, 15-year-old ninth grade male run a mile within nine minutes, perform at least 16 push-ups, and do at least 24 curl-ups. For all six areas of the test:

  • 25.2 percent of fifth-grade students were in the HFZ®, compared to 29 percent in 2010;
  • 32.0 percent of seventh-grade students were in the HFZ®, compared to 35 percent in 2010; and
  • 36.8 percent of ninth-grade students were in the HFZ®, compared to 38.7 percent in 2010 (Tables 3 and 4).                                                              

A teacher and longtime high school cross country coach, Torlakson launched the Team California for Healthy Kids effort to engage celebrity athletes, community leaders, public health advocates, parents, teachers, and students in achieving three major goals:

  • Increasing physical activity, especially moderate-to-vigorous physical activity throughout the day, every day, in schools and communities.
  • Increasing access to fresh fruits and vegetables in meals and snacks in early childhood and after-school programs, and in salad bars in schools.
  • Increasing access to drinking water.

Athletes and others involved in the campaign will be visiting schools throughout the state to encourage local efforts to increase physical activity and increase access to water, fresh fruits, and vegetables. Working alongside Walton on the effort as the Team's co-chairs are former NFL star William "Bubba" Paris, ultramarathoner Dean Karnazes, fitness expert Lorrie Sullenberger, and UCLA Professor Toni Yancey, MD, MPH.

Organizers have created a set of online resources and tools available to any school or community organization looking to promote student health and fitness. The campaign's materials are posted on the California Department of Education's Web site at Team California for Healthy Kids - Initiatives & Programs or at the Team California for Healthy Kids site at Team California Home [http://www.teamcaliforniaforhealthykids.org] (Outside Source)

The California State Board of Education designated the FITNESSGRAM® in 1996 as the required Physical Fitness Test that local educational agencies administer to students annually in grades five, seven, and nine. State law requires all public schools in California to report these results in their School Accountability Report Cards and provide students with their individual results.

The FITNESSGRAM® was designed by The Cooper Institute to evaluate fitness performance and increase the likelihood students will adopt lifetime patterns of physical activity. The FITNESSGRAM® assesses six fitness areas: (1) aerobic capacity, (2) body composition, (3) abdominal strength, (4) trunk extensor strength, (5) upper body strength, and (6) flexibility.

The 2011 Physical Fitness Test results for schools, school districts, counties, and state are available on the California Department of Education Web site at PFT Results - Physical Fitness Testing (PFT). For information on the Team California for Healthy Kids initiative, please visit Team California for Healthy Kids - Initiatives & Programs.

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Attachments

2011 Physical Fitness Test Results

Table 1: 2011 Percentage of Grade Five, Seven, and Nine
Students in Healthy Fitness Zone1 (HFZ) by Fitness Areas
I'm in the middle of conducting the Fitnessgram for approximately 30 grammar school students. The Fitnessgram was developed by the Cooper Institute and it's the only health-related fitness assessment to use criterion-referenced standards, called Healthy Fitness Zones, to determine students' fitness levels based on what is optimal for good health. The Fitnessgram measures three components of fitness including aerobic capacity, body composition and muscular strength, endurance and flexibility. I'm not done testing yet but so far the results haven't been stellar which is why I have childhood obesity on my mind.

Here are some simple solutions to childhood obesity:

Recommend Exercise: Children should engage in a combination of cardiovascular and resistance training. Both of these fitness components are important to decrease metabolic risk factors. We walk our dogs and let them out to run everyday, do the same with your kids!

Help your kids choose active friends: Your kids should include everyone as friends but as a parent try to advise your kids to choose like minded, active friends. Children should be doing more than organized sports programs such as creative games and competitions.

Nutrition Nutrition Nutrition: Caloric intake is substantially increased by eating processed and fast foods. Try to stay away from the kids menu consisting of fried chicken, french fries, mac and cheese, etc... Recommend healthy fruits, vegetables and whole foods. I know it's difficult (I'm a Dad), I recently read a child has to taste something 16 times before they acquire taste for that item.

Stay away from the video game trap: Hours and hours of gaming is detrimental to your child's health. I agree everything should be used (and eaten) in moderation. Try to introduce active gaming such as XBox Kinect or the Nintendo Wii.

If you would like to have your child, class or school tested with the Fitnessgram please contact us at pptswellness.com. More than ever, when it comes to children's health it's time to take action. To help turn the tide of obesity, be involved by helping children live well-nourished and active lives.