Fitness assessment in elementary school?

[janeybwild]

Our school district has been in the local news recently due to some problems with the way fitness assessments have been performed in one elementary school. Basically, grades were assigned to 4th and 5th graders based on their body mass index (i.e. height and weight) and their ability to do several exercises (like push ups, pull ups and arm hangs). They are interested in revamping their program to choose measures of fitness that better fit elementary school children (primarily 1st-5th grade) as well as to remove such measures from the report card.
So my questions are:
1) what fitness exams are done in your school district?
2) what do you think are appropriate measures of physical fitness in that age group?

TIA

[pinkmomagain]

Fitness exams are done 2x a year...however they have absolutely nothing to do with the students' grades for PE. The kids bring home a print out, stress about it, I glance at it and throw it in the garbage. I don't know what appropriate measures would be.

I absolutely can't stand PE and can go on a very long rant about it....but I won't pirate your post!

[maestramommy]

Wow, I don't think I ever got grades for PE until high school. If I did I don't remember them.

If they are going to get graded it shouldn't be until after they've had several weeks to work toward the assessment. For example, in HS we had the Marine fitness exam. You were scored on the number of pushups, situps, pullups, and chin bar hanging for x seconds. We also had to run. We had the full assessment after 10 weeks of doing calesthenics (sp??) for most of the period. THEN we got a grade. No such thing as BMI in those days.

[crl]

I don't think grades should be assigned on those kinds of things. I wonder why they need to grade pe at all. But maybe based on improvement? Or participation?

Catherine

[marie]

another PE hater here. . . i swear it made me less interested in sports. LOL

DD1 doesn't get graded on PE but they did do a "FitnessGram" and the results were given out in the Fall report card. (I later found out that the the PE teacher handed them out to the students in class too, which i think is sooooo wrong. Maybe as a woman and mom to 2 girls I'm particularly sensitive but I don't think kids need to see each other's body fat percentage. That's just asking for the kids to compare which just contributes to teasing. ugh! sorry for the digression and rant. . .)

Anyway, the FitnessGram measured:

Aerobic Capacity (VO2Max) - whatever that means. the kids had to run 1 mile. the results of that plus DD1's BMI is listed on this line
(Abdominal) Curl-Up
(Trunk Extension) Trunk Lift
(Upper Body) Flexed Arm Hang
(Flexibility) Back-Saver Sit and Reach R, L
Percent Body Fat

Each result is a number and is represented as a bar line on a scale from red "needs improvement" to green "Healthy fitness zone".

I believe that the 5th & 6th graders have an activity log that is part of this program. Not sure if they get grades or not for PE, though.

Just found the FitnessGram website:
http://www.fitnessgram.net/home/

[VTKZ]

As a Physical Educator, it is so hard for us the change the perspective of how Physical Education has evolved since we were in school. We teach skills so that our students can find lifetime activities and stay active. Fitness testing is our way to help our students understand the importance of the health of our bodies and how to self assess and create goals to work for. They learn that preparing for a goal isn't something that can happen overnight, and they have to work towards improving different aspects of fitness. In regards to grading students from their fitness scores, it is something that most professionals would not do. Also, in my district we do not take student's BMI's, so I don't have any information on that.

Just so you know, I teach my students the 5 components of fitness, nutrition, how to wash their hands correctly, how to find their target heart rates, and a variety of other health and physical education topics, as well as mixing in math, reading, and science too! All of that in 30 minutes 3X a week. And these are ELEMENTARY students. I have first graders that can tell me that 1 gram of protein has 4 calories. Before you discount PE, go visit your child's school and watch a class. It isn't the "climb the rope and dodgeball" Pe you grew up with!!

[janeybwild]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I am a huge proponent of PE in schools and know that there has to be a better way of getting fitness into the school. Its just hard to imagine a performance assessment based on number of chin ups in my scrawny 2nd grader who is unlikely to be able to do even one no matter how much she practices. She's just not built that way. Something similar to what Marie posted (FitnessGram) is used here. I'm wondering if there are other programs that are better suited to elementary age kids? I've been asked to sit on a panel to review this and would rally love to hear other positive PE fitness stories in elementary school

[dec756]

our schools have always done this (im 24 and we did these tests 2x a year). not a bad idea to motivated kids but it can be humiliating all at the same time.

[VTKZ]

Our school district just begin using the Focused Fitness curriculum. We are pretty happy with it, because it encourages a more healthy eating and exercise curriculum. Sadly, I think most states require some type of physical fitness testing. In the world of numbers, this the way that schools can give the people in the Capital what they want. Just a suggestion, why not talk about starting fitness testing later? We don't record scores until the kids are in 4th grade. My younger students don't do the tests at all. Also, our county will not allow BMI assessments due to liability and invading privacy issues. Good Luck with your work on the panel for PE. It's great to see someone who actively helps create better things in the schools!
:applause: