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Schools take a new look at how fitness can fuel brains

A study showing fit students generally do better on standardized tests revives interest in physical education.

By THOMAS C. TOBIN
Published December 10, 2004

[Times photo: Bill Serne] Zoie Bowers, 6, does a trunk lift for her physical education teacher, Linda S. Fairman, at Cross Bayou Elementary school. Students are tested periodically, and their progress is measured. This was Zoie's second time doing trunk lifts, and her score had improved.

[Times photo: Bill Serne] Kameron Carwell warms up before taking the tests.

Second-grader Triston Mitchell is among the first wave of students who will never know what school was like before the FCAT. Now he finds himself on the leading edge of yet another movement: a comeback for PE.

Physical education is back on every principal's radar after years of lean times, when bare budgets and a focus on standardized tests made it a frill. Fueling the resurgence are growing concerns about obesity and a study that shows the fittest students generally do best on standardized tests.

In a time when educators look for any trick that will give them an edge on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, the connection between physical and mental fitness - a notion invented by the ancient Greeks - is getting a second look.

All Triston Mitchell knew Wednesday was that physical education teacher Linda Fairman wanted to measure whether his abdominal muscles have gotten stronger since September. While his classmates jogged around Friendship Field behind Cross Bayou Elementary in Pinellas Park, Fairman asked Triston to lie face-up on a blue mat.

In September, he managed eight "curl-ups," a partial sit-up with hands flat at your sides. "Now you're trying to get more than that," Fairman told him.

She counted: "One, two, three ..."

At seven curl-ups, Triston started to grunt.

"C'mon buddy. Come back up," Fairman implored softly.

He made it to 10, well within the "Healthy Fitness Zone" for his age. The improved result will be part of a "Fitnessgram" that goes home with his report card in February.

The short report is Pinellas' answer to the new focus on fitness. This year, for the first time, all students who take PE are bringing home Fitnessgrams containing details on their body mass and their performance on exercises, including the curl-up, a 1-mile run and a raising of the head and shoulders called the "trunk lift."

Meanwhile, Florida lawmakers this year directed education officials to study whether PE classes have declined statewide. They also must report to Gov. Jeb Bush by Feb. 1 ways to "significantly increase" PE programs across Florida.

The Fitnessgram, also being used in some Hillsborough schools, is a program that could be expanded statewide. If used to monitor progress, set goals or drive what teachers focus on, the program could evolve into a fitness version of the FCAT. It was developed by the Cooper Institute, a nonprofit research center in Dallas.

Much of the impetus for change came from a report in February titled Obesity in Florida , which documented alarming increases in unhealthy weight gain and sedentary lifestyles among children and adults. The findings mirror a national trend, which has prompted Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Arkansas and other states to take similar action. All are aimed at getting students more active and making their families more aware of physical fitness. A common theme is that people don't need to take up a sport to exercise; they can make it part of their routines.

"With enjoyment you're going to do it," said Jim Ewbank, who supervises PE for Pinellas schools. "If it's a pain, you're going to find every excuse in the world not to."

In a playful twist on the federal law that has turned public education on its ear, some educators have dubbed the new fitness push "No Child Left (on their) Behind."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, the prevalence of U.S. high school students attending daily PE class dropped from 42 percent in 1991 to 25 percent in 1995, a period of declining education budgets. The number has hovered around 25 percent since.

In elementary and middle schools across Florida, many districts have reduced the number of days PE is offered. Prompted by pressures to improve test scores, many take struggling students from PE to work on reading and math.

PE policies vary significantly across the state. Pinellas elementary students have PE class either 30 minutes a day five days a week, or 45 minutes a day three days a week. In Hillsborough, elementary students attend PE twice a week for 30 minutes.

At Cross Bayou Elementary, one sign that PE has made it back to the big time is its inclusion for the first time in the school improvement plan.

But not everyone is happy with what Pinellas is doing, including Nancy Bostock, the new School Board chairman. Bostock, who has children at Bay Vista Fundamental Elementary in St. Petersburg, said she has received complaints that Fitnessgrams are invading student privacy.

"I have serious concerns," said Bostock, who argues that parents should be notified in advance about the tests and be able to opt out. She cited the tendency of children to compare weight and height, which can be sensitive topics.

In the case of a girl at risk for an eating disorder, she said, "it could really push a girl over the edge in the wrong direction."

Most parents know if their child has a health problem, Bostock said.

"I think that's a private issue, an at-home issue," said Barbara Fernandez, a Bay Vista parent and a nurse. "The school should be teaching, educating the kids."

Ewbank, the Pinellas PE supervisor, said PE teachers are told to be discreet by weighing children individually and in a private area. He said students are reminded not to share the information. "We're not trying to label anybody," he said. "All we're trying to do is educate."

He said one parent said her child came home insisting that the family exercise more and eat healthier.

As Pinellas looks to improve its FCAT scores, California's experience with the Fitnessgram appears to provide motivation. Two years ago, officials there matched the test scores of nearly 1-million students with Fitnessgram results. They found scores were higher for students who were more fit.

At Cross Bayou, where Fairman, the PE coach, was besieged Wednesday by children bragging about their running times, the hope is to copy California. When FCAT scores are released this spring, at least one veteran PE teacher will turn her attention from jumping jacks to reading and math results.

Said Fairman: "We hope there's going to be a direct correlation."

[Last modified December 9, 2004, 23:35:12]