phys ed testing in TX

["Monty Neill" <monty@fairtest.org>]

This is a fairly long article, so I am including only first section and the URL.

It is good they are focusing some on physical fitness, bad it is a reaction to problem of their own making (high stakes test), good that it is a performance task (hope no kids die running a mile), and bad in that they set the bar at the 80th percentile and then say they expect poor performance. Well, duh! The same great minds that bring us high stakes standardized tests in which all will be very far above average if only we set the bar high enough. 

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-fitnesstest_11met.ART.State.Edition2.435fb67.html

 
PE not just fun, games anymore 

State to test students, tally results by school, district


12:00 AM CDT on Wednesday, July 11, 2007

By STACI HUPP / The Dallas Morning News 
shupp@dallasnews.com 

The newest standardized test in Texas will make millions of children sweat next year. It also will make them run a mile and touch their toes. 


  
Texas will be the first state to comprehensively gauge students' physical health as part of a new fitness-focused law that targets growing waistlines. 

"We're treading new water here," said Jeff Kloster, an associate commissioner at the Texas Education Agency, which will oversee a state fitness test for children in grades three through 12. 

The test will measure aerobic endurance, body fat, flexibility and muscle strength, Mr. Kloster said. 

TEA officials expect to spend $2.5 million to equip schools with Fitnessgram, a testing tool developed by Dallas physician Kenneth Cooper, founder of aerobics. The tool includes computer software to train teachers how to conduct the test. 

To pass, students must score in the 80th percentile, or better than seven out of 10 peers, for their age and sex. Students with disabilities or a doctor's note don't have to take the test. 

Students who fail will not be penalized. 

TEA officials say the test results will help guide state research into possible links among physical health and student achievement, school attendance and discipline problems. 

"What Texas is doing, which could be a really great thing, is they're creating accountability" for student health, said Charlene Burgeson, executive director of the National Association for Sport and Physical Education. "It's a really important part of giving the student ownership of their own health, too. They need to understand what those different components of fitness are and how they're doing on them." 

TEA officials will tally test results by grade level, campus and school district. Parents who want to know their child's score need only call the school, which will keep files for every student. 

"It is not a competition to the extent that if you don't achieve a certain number, you don't get rewarded," Mr. Kloster said. "This is about identifying where we are." 

State officials say they have low expectations for the first round of tests next spring. 

About one-third of Texas' 4 million public school children are considered overweight, health data show, putting the state above the national average. 

Only two-thirds of the state's students were enrolled in PE classes in 2005, according to TEA data.

Monty Neill, Ed.D.
Co-Executive Director
FairTest
342 Broadway
Cambridge, MA 02139
617-864-4810    fax 617-497-2224
monty@fairtest.org
http://www.fairtest.org
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