The state Office of Education today released the results of the annual California Physical Fitness test.
More than 1.3 million fifth, seventh and ninth graders took the physical fitness test in the 2008-09 school year. Statewide, more than half of the students in the fifth and seventh grades successfully met five of the six targets as did two-thirds of the ninth graders.
How did Sonoma County students do?
More than 32 percent of fifth graders met all six targets, nearly 35 percent of seventh graders and nearly 42 percent of ninth graders. Seven out of 10 fifth graders met the targets for body composition, while nearly 72 percent of seventh graders and more than 75 percent of ninth graders made it.
To see how your school, district and/or county did, click here: http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/tg/pf/pftresults.asp
For the really aggressive data lovers out there, you can also sort by gender, ethnicity and other subgroups.
For an overview of the program and criteria, click here: http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/tg/pf/documents/0809pftoverview.pdf
State superintendent Jack O’Connell said California’s students are making progress but need to improve, in light of the epidemic of obesity.
“National statistics show that today’s children are twice as likely to be overweight than their counterparts of the 1980s. Teenagers today are three times as likely to be overweight as those in the 1980s,” O’Connell said in a statement.
From the voluminous stats released from Sacramento today, readers will find that nearly 32 percent of the state’s fifth graders are not deemed in the “healthy fitness zone” for body composition and more than 34 percent are not in the healthy fitness zone for aerobic capacity. By ninth grade, those numbers fall to 30 percent in body composition but go up to 37 percent in aerobic capacity.
Overall, 29 percent of fifth graders were deemed in the healthy fitness zone in all six testing areas. Thirty-four of seventh graders hit the zone in all six areas and nearly 39 percent of ninth graders made it.
School are invited to participate in the 2010 Governor’s Fitness Challenge competition: www.calgovcouncil.org/challenge/