- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
State testing shows physical fitness levels for students remain stable; small changes seen locally
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – State officials said the recently released results of physical fitness testing for elementary school students showed that, for the second year in a row, 31 percent of students posted healthy scores in all six of the tested areas.
The California Department of Education reported that the 2012 Physical Fitness Test was administered to approximately 1.3 million fifth-, seventh- and ninth-graders, representing more than 93 percent of the total number of students enrolled in those grades in California public schools.
State Superintendent of Schools Tom Torlakson didn’t consider the results encouraging.
“When we can call fewer than one out of three of our kids physically fit, we know we have a tremendous public health challenge on our hands,” Torlakson said.
Torlakson, a longtime teacher and coach, said that study after study has demonstrated the very clear link between physical fitness and academic achievement.
“While I am glad their fitness levels improve as they make their way through school, we owe it to California’s kids to give them more opportunities for exercise, along with better access to healthy foods and clean, fresh water,” Torlakson said.
In Lake County, 563 fifth graders, 613 seventh graders and 695 ninth graders participated in the testing, according to the testing data.
The FITNESSGRAM testing, designed in 1996, looks at six key fitness areas: aerobic capacity, body composition, abdominal strength, trunk extensor strength, upper body strength and flexibility.
For aerobic capacity and body composition, students may be classified in the “Healthy Fitness Zone (HFZ),” “Needs Improvement” or “Needs Improvement-High Risk.”
In the other four areas, students are classified more generally as either being in the HFZ or needing improvement, according to the report.
The 2012 Physical Fitness Test results show that, statewide, 25 percent of the students in grade five, 32 percent in grade seven, and 37 percent in grade nine scored within the HFZ for all six areas of the test.
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 state reported. This year’s results show that almost a third, or 30 percent, of all students from grades five, seven and nine are in the high-risk category for body composition.
State education officials said the same groups, or cohorts, of students were tracked through the fitness tests in the three selected grade levels, with the testing noting improvements in physical fitness over the years.
The same was true in the case of Lake County’s children, for whom physical fitness appeared to have improved as students advanced through the grade levels.
Among local fifth graders, 25 percent were in the Healthy Fitness Zone for all six testing categories, compared to 24.3 percent among seventh graders and 38.3 percent for ninth graders. That’s compared to 24.8 percent, 25.5 percent and 37.6 percent, respectively, in the 2010-11 report.
The visualization above shows how Lake County students tested in each of the six physical fitness areas in the 2012 testing.
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