Texas Schoolchildren In Sad Shape, First Statewide Fitness Tests Show
Texas students are out of shape – and the older they get, the flabbier they get, according to the first statewide physical fitness assessments of public schoolchildren.
Based on evaluations of nearly 2.6 million students in grades three through 12, the testing found that fitness levels drop with each passing grade – Health Topics and elementary-age children perform the best.
Results showed that only about 32 percent of third-grade girls and 28 percent of third-grade boys reached the “healthy fitness zone,” meeting performance targets on six fitness tests.
Among 12th-graders, only 8 percent of girls and 9 percent of boys met the health standards on all six tests.
Beginning this fall, sixth-, seventh- Health Topics and eighth-graders will have to participate in physical activity for at least four of six semesters in those grades.
“Our children’s health is in jeopardy,” Ms. Nelson said at a news briefing on the testing. “Children are leading a much different lifestyle today. They have Xboxes and watch way too much television. Our children are leading a sedentary, super-sized lifestyle, and it is showing.”
It cost about $2.5 million, about $230 per school, to establish the program in Texas and was paid for through private contributions, mostly raised by Dr. Cooper’s foundation.
“I hope these results shock the state into reality and into action,” Dr. Cooper said. “Our kids are the fattest and least fit they have been in our lifetimes.”
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