Lodi students fall short of peers on fitness test

Only 26 percent of Lodi Unified's 2,294 high school freshman met all six of the state's physical fitness criteria, compared to 36 percent of students in the same grade level statewide.

The local figure is still an improvement over last year, when only 19 percent scored within the ideal fitness zone. Scores for seventh-graders, however, have dropped.

The annual results were among those released by the state Department of Education Tuesday.

"Students are moving in the right direction toward better fitness," state Superintendent Jack O'Connell said in a statement. "But to get them to take giant leaps instead of baby steps will require additional encouragement from school administrators, teachers, and parents."

This year's scores also show statewide that 29 percent of the students in fifth grade and 33 percent in seventh grade achieved in the healthy fitness zone for all six areas of the test. The results represent a 1.4 percentage point increase in fifth-grade students' scores, a 2 percentage point increase in seventh-grade students' scores and a 5.5 percentage point gain in ninth-grade students' scores compared to last year's results.

The six physical fitnesses areas fifth-, seventhand ninth-graders are tested in each year include aerobic capacity, body composition, abdominal strength, trunk extensor strength, upper body strength and flexibility.

The aerobic capacity test, which consists of a one-mile run, is considered by the state the most important indicator of physical fitness, since it measures the capacity of students' cariorespiratory system by testing endurance.

Only 57 percent of the 2,228 tested Lodi Unified fifth-graders in that category met the healthy fitness zone, compared to 68 percent of seveth-graders and 56 percent of ninth-graders.

However, 90 percent of the district's youngest tested groups hit the zone when it came to trunk extensor strength, which is related to lower back health and alignment. Students are tested by laying on their backs, lifting their upper bodies 12 inches off the floor and holding it long enough for measurement.

Eighty percent of ninth-graders met the criteria while its highest-scoring category was abdominal strength.

Galt students saw similar results with 32, 36 and 31 percent of fifth-, seventhand ninth-graders, respectively, meeting all six requirements.

The figures show slight improvement for fifthand ninth-graders, who scored 34 and 37 percent last year, and a decline for seventh-graders. In 2007, 28 percent achievent in the healthy fitness zone for all six test areas.

In Lodi, 28 percent of fifth-graders and 29 percent of seventh-graders scored within the zone this year. In the last age category, 2,242 were tested.

Compared to last year, fifth-grade scores went unchanged, while seventh-graders dropped from last year's figure of 34 percent.

State law requires school districts to administer a physical fitness test, designated by the State Board of Education, to all fifth-, seventh-, and ninth-graders annually. Earlier this year, it was administered to a total of 1,371,411 California public school students: 454,276 fifth grade students, 458,122 seventh grade students, and 459,013 ninth grade students.

Contact reporter Jennifer Bonnett at jenniferb@lodinews.com

Reader Feedback

mainframe wrote on Nov 27, 2008 12:00 PM:

" Mad Dog wrote on Nov 27, 2008 3:01 AM:

" How many of the state legislators that required this test can also pass the same test? Pass the gravy please! "

Or even half of them? "

Report Abuse

Mad Dog wrote on Nov 27, 2008 3:01 AM:

" How many of the state legislators that required this test can also pass the same test? Pass the gravy please! "

Report Abuse

Comments on this story are now closed.

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