District to address state fitness scores
Santa Monica students need to shape up, according to state officials.
With barely 18 percent of its ninth-grade students considered physically fit, the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District still fared better than the rest of the state in a recent test.
Only 13 percent of ninth graders in Los Angeles County are considered physically fit. This year’s Santa Monica- Malibu school district score is an improvement over 1999 figures. Those figures — the last scores available — had about 15 percent passing.
Educators are not taking visions of heavyweight, flabby youth lightly — they plan to make a series of recommendations at next month’s school board meeting to improve physical fitness.
“We did better than average but that isn’t saying much — the average was horrible,” said John Deasy, superintendent of schools. “There’s still a lot of room for improvement.”
“We did better than average but that isn’t saying much — the average was horrible.” — — JOHN DEASY Superintendent of schools
The test, given to fifth, seventh and ninth graders in 90 percent of California school districts, measured physical fitness in six areas: cardiovascular endurance, percentage of body fat, abdominal strength, endurance, and overall flexibility. To be considered physically fit, the state requires students pass all six tests.
But the state also has set up ranges called “Healthy Fitness Zones,” for students who demonstrate a certain level of fitness. Forty-eight percent of SMMU students fall within the healthy zone, according to the state.
However, the school district is contesting the state’s figures.
“There’s been a discrepancy in the numbers.
Some students did not complete all parts of the fitness test,” said Chris Carliss, a school district employee in academic services who will report to the school board next month on the district’s results. “Somewhere between Los Angeles County and the state there was a mix-up.”
According to the school district, 56 percent of the student body is within the healthy fitness zone. The two tests on which district children performed the worst involved a one-mile run, which tests aerobic stamina, with 48 percent passing, and on the push-up test, which tests upper body strength, with 46 percent passing.
However, there has been some concern among physical education teachers across the nation over California’s physical assessment criteria. Many believe it’s too stringent.
“There are some educators in the state and throughout the country that have expressed concern about the test,” said Carliss. “But as long as the state says this is what we need to do this is what we need to do.”
“There are some educators in the state and throughout the country that have expressed concern about the test. But as long as the state says this is what we need to do this is what we need to do.” — — CHRIS CARLISS School district employee
District officials will recommend to the school board that it should change its physical education program to include components of the state test to better prepare children.
At the beginning of the school year, the district will recommend that gym teachers test students on their physical fitness, based on the state’s criteria, to establish a “baseline.”
Students would then be encouraged to improve upon that level throughout the course of the school year, with a percentage of their overall grade based on the level of improvement.
“We want to focus activity, instructional activities, on fitness. We want to look at all the components of (the state’s) fitness test and incorporate them into our classroom practices,” said Carliss. “We need to use the fitness program as an assessment tool in our physical education program. And we need to do that throughout the school year.”
Carliss said the low numbers are representative of a lack of interest and funding by the state in physical education.
“Unfortunately, physical education and its components are the first to be cut when there are budget deficits,” said Carliss. “And we have seen over the past 14 years cuts statewide to phys. ed.”
But Carliss is optimistic that students in the school district are interested in fitness, and he points to increased levels in extracurricular sports.
“Participation is up in after-school sports. The difficulty right now is finding the space to house all the activities available to kids,” he said.
And now the school district wants to create an intramural league for kids that don’t make the varsity or junior varsity teams.
“We’re trying to find a way to develop an intramural activity for those kids to encourage them to continue their sports activities,” said Carliss. “We are also working more closely with the city on a playground partnership. We want to open elementary playgrounds on week nights and weekends which should provide a little relief to allow more teams to use the fields.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 15, 2001. Read the original PDF.