By Pyc Fitness
©2004-2008
MILTON -- Many parents can expect to see a new report card come home with their children -- though the grades are for their bodies, not their minds.
The Delaware Department of Education now requires an annual physical fitness assessment for all students in fourth and seventh grades and those in either ninth or 10th grade. State administrators have implemented the "Fitnessgram" program in all public and charter schools.
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While some programs base scores around the ideal shape of a child at a specific age, Fitnessgram takes into account an individual's sex and body-mass index -- a ratio of a person's body type based on his or her weight and height.
By adding in a child's BMI, different sets of standards are applied -- by the computer program that calculates the test results -- to see if he or she scores in the "Healthy Fitness Zone."
Fitnessgram tests individuals on aerobic capacity, muscle strength and endurance and flexibility. It was created 20 years ago by the Cooper Institute in Dallas, whose founder, Dr. Kenneth H. Cooper, coined the term "aerobics" in 1968.
At Mariner Middle School, located just outside Milton, physical education teachers Michael Dominguez and Jennifer Eckman said they are taking the requirements further for their school. According to Eckman, all students at Mariner will be assessed using the Fitnessgram.
Dominguez said a student's assessment is given out only to the student, his or her parents and the state.
Eckman said the Fitnessgram is really meant to be more of a learning tool for health and fitness, as opposed to a test. The fitness assessment is not a standardized grade scenario.
According to her, the tests are about seeing if students fall into a healthy range.
Eckman and Dominguez want to test students twice to show they can make changes and progress toward a healthier lifestyle.
"And you need a healthy body to achieve academically," Eckman said.
Fitnessgram was implemented in Delaware this past spring. It was piloted in 19 public schools and every fourth-grader in the state took the Fitnessgram test as well.
"And we were just getting ourselves acclimated to the program," Dominguez said.
According to John Ray, an education specialist with the state's Department of Education, state administrators will have their first full-year report on the shape of the state's students.
Ray said the assessments from the spring are currently being reviewed by the state's diverse team of experts.
According to him, Dominguez and Eckman at Mariner Middle School are not the only teachers going above and beyond the state testing requirements. He said he knows of other physical education teachers in Delaware doing the same thing.
"We all see the need," Ray said.
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