GILROY
– Ninety-three percent of Gilroy fifth-graders cannot perform
exercises well enough to be considered in shape, according to state
fitness exam scores released Wednesday.
GILROY – Ninety-three percent of Gilroy fifth-graders cannot perform exercises well enough to be considered in shape, according to state fitness exam scores released Wednesday.
And kids in Gilroy’s middle and high schools don’t fare much better, with only 17 percent of seventh-graders and 19 percent of ninth-graders scoring high enough to be considered “physically fit.”
“This was predictable,” said Pat Vickroy, a physical education instructor for Gilroy Unified. “We’ve done nothing to improve scores as a district and teachers are even discouraged to take their kids outside.”
The data, released last week, is from last spring’s physical fitness test of California students in grades five, seven and nine. Statewide students performed exercises across six fitness categories – aerobic capacity, body composition, abdominal strength, trunk extension, upper body strength and flexibility.
For aerobic capacity, children are tested by being asked to run a mile. If a child completes the course in 13 to 15 minutes, he or she is considered to be in the “healthy fitness zone.”
Students must meet the minimum fitness standards for all six areas to be considered fit.
Statewide, only 24 percent of students across the three grade levels tested achieved that goal. In Gilroy that number is even lower for all three grade levels at 14 percent.
“I am concerned that such a small percentage of students is meeting the minimum requirements for health-related physical fitness,” state Superintendent Jack O’Connell said. “Inactive children are at risk for serious health conditions, many of which may continue into adulthood.”
Ever since standardized test scores have become the state’s yardstick for measuring school accountability and student progress, Vickroy has been critical of the GUSD for what he says is an effort to improve academic scores at the expense of children’s health.
Despite an effort by the GUSD to reform its physical education program, elementary school children in Gilroy continue to get roughly 70 minutes a week less than what the state requires for physical education instruction.
There are currently no penalties handed down by the state if a school does not meet its required physical education minutes.
A loggerhead between GUSD and its physical education teachers erupted last spring when the Gilroy Teachers Association filed a grievance and physical education teachers refused to administer the state physical education test. The teachers claimed administering the test to students who have not received adequate physical instruction was unfair and unsafe.
“That’s what’s so wrong about this testing. Kids are being asked to run a mile, for example, and they had no training or experience with that going in,” Vickroy said.
Vickroy and other GUSD physical education teachers are lobbying the state to do more to improve matters. Vickroy has asked the state to identify school districts that are high performing on the fitness tests and to outline the physical education program those districts use.
Recently, the state released a study showing a positive correlation between physical fitness and higher standardized test scores.
“This district often says it’s ‘data driven,’ but here’s a case where it’s not being used. We need to become more ‘child driven,'” Vickroy said.
