Texas schoolchildren in sad shape, first statewide fitness tests show
July 2, 2008
Based on evaluations of nearly 2.6 million students in grades three through 12, the testing found that fitness levels drop with each passing grade – and elementary-age children perform the best.
Written by Terrence Stutz, Karin Shaw Anderson, Dallas Morning News
Texas students are out of shape – and the older they get, the flabbier they get, according to the first statewide physical fitness assessments of public schoolchildren.
Based on evaluations of nearly 2.6 million students in grades three through 12, the testing found that fitness levels drop with each passing grade – and elementary-age children perform the best.
Results showed that only about 32 percent of third-grade girls and 28 percent of third-grade boys reached the "healthy fitness zone," meeting performance targets on six fitness tests.
Among 12th-graders, only 8 percent of girls and 9 percent of boys met the health standards on all six tests.
"That doesn't surprise me," said Elizabeth Jenkins, a Dallas grandmother who took her four grandchildren to a splash park Tuesday afternoon. "Most parents don't take the time to prepare the proper food, and so the kids eat a lot of junk food."
And children spend too much time idle in front of the TV or in day care instead of outside playing, Ms. Jenkins said.
The fitness tests – conducted last school year and tailored to students based on age and gender – included push-ups, curl-ups, trunk lifts, shoulder stretches, a one-mile run and a skin fold test.
Joe Tessler, who took the test as a junior at Colleyville Heritage High School, said he was penalized for being too lean. He carries about 130 pounds on a 6-foot-1-inch frame.
"I'm a weak computer geek," Joe said. "But I think anybody in high school should be able to complete the test."
Students at his school self-reported their results, and not all students took the tests seriously, he said. That could have diluted the accuracy of the results.
Even so, he was surprised by the dismal passing rate for kids his age.
"I know my friends and I are a lot more fit than that," he said.
Results will be further analyzed later this year to study the correlation between physical fitness and academic achievement – including scores on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills.
Girls generally fared better on the fitness tests until they reached the ninth grade. At that point, boys achieved better passing rates.
Jan Ramos, a physical education teacher at Kennedy Middle School in Grand Prairie, said the gender switch is a familiar scenario to her.
If she tosses a basketball toward a group of 12- to 14-year-olds, the boys will grab the ball and start playing.
"The girls won't do that," Ms. Ramos said. "They don't want to sweat."
State Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, author of the legislation that required the physical assessments – called Fitnessgram – said the decline in physical fitness corresponds to decreasing emphasis on physical education in the upper grades.
The senator said Tuesday that she will consider legislation that would beef up physical education requirements in middle schools and high schools. Elementary schools already have daily P.E. requirements. Ms. Nelson would initially like to see middle school students spend more time in physical education and then expand the requirements to high schools, where students are required to take only 1 ½ years of P.E. classes.
Beginning this fall, sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders will have to participate in physical activity for at least four of six semesters in those grades.
"Our children's health is in jeopardy," Ms. Nelson said at a news briefing on the testing. "Children are leading a much different lifestyle today. They have Xboxes and watch way too much television. Our children are leading a sedentary, super-sized lifestyle, and it is showing."
Asked about the possibility of lengthening the school day to allow more time for physical education, the senator and state Education Commissioner Robert Scott said they expect the Legislature to discuss it in the future.
Kenneth Cooper, founder of the Cooper Institute of Dallas, said Tuesday that at least 15 states have expressed interest in using the Fitnessgram – developed by the institute – to evaluate their schoolchildren.
It cost about $2.5 million, about $230 per school, to establish the program in Texas and was paid for through private contributions, mostly raised by Dr. Cooper's foundation.
"I hope these results shock the state into reality and into action," Dr. Cooper said. "Our kids are the fattest and least fit they have been in our lifetimes."
A national report last year indicated that Texas ranked sixth among the states with the highest obesity rate for children ages 10 to 17.
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