The State of Illinois has mandated that fitness assessments be administered to all students in grades 3-5. All students in those grades will complete a battery of four assessments covering the health-related fitness components. The aggregate data collected from our 5th graders will be sent to the State. No names or other identifiable information is included in this data – simply the raw number of students within the Healthy Fitness Zones for both boys and girls on the various tests. These tests simply show a “snapshot” of their overall fitness levels at this particular point in time. It is not a measure of their athletic abilities nor is it reflected on their progress report grade in any way.
Push up
The push-up test measures upper body strength and endurance. In this test, the maximum number of push-ups performed at a rate of one every three seconds is recorded.
The push-up assessment is also performed to a pre-recorded voice over telling students when to go "down" and when to go back "up". Students attempt to stay right with the cadence. They must keep their body straight and elbows must bend at a 90 degree angle on the down phase. If they fail to stay with the cadence or body doesn't remain in a straight line (hips sag, butt up in the air, or elbows not bent at a full 90 degree angle) it is considered a form break. They must come all the way "up" arms locked out straight and body straight (as shown on right). Students are allowed to either get off the cadence or have one form break. The second time they get off cadence or have a form break, the test is over and the number of push ups performed is recorded. This assessment targets overall upper body strength & endurance - primarily the chest (pectoralis major) but also the triceps and front deltoids as the secondary movers.
The push-up assessment is also performed to a pre-recorded voice over telling students when to go "down" and when to go back "up". Students attempt to stay right with the cadence. They must keep their body straight and elbows must bend at a 90 degree angle on the down phase. If they fail to stay with the cadence or body doesn't remain in a straight line (hips sag, butt up in the air, or elbows not bent at a full 90 degree angle) it is considered a form break. They must come all the way "up" arms locked out straight and body straight (as shown on right). Students are allowed to either get off the cadence or have one form break. The second time they get off cadence or have a form break, the test is over and the number of push ups performed is recorded. This assessment targets overall upper body strength & endurance - primarily the chest (pectoralis major) but also the triceps and front deltoids as the secondary movers.
Curl up
Good strength and endurance of the abdominal muscles are important in promoting correct posture and pelvic alignment. The curl-up abdominal fitness test requires the subjects to perform as many curl-ups as possible following a set cadence.
The curl-up assessment is performed to a pre-recorded voice over telling students when to come "up" and when to go back "down". Students attempt to stay right with the cadence. They must keep knees bent, feet in contact with the floor and hands down at sides palms down. They must come all the way "up" to the point their fingers travel 4" from the resting position to a line on the mat (as shown on right) and then return with their head touching the mat on the "down" command. Students are allowed to either get off the cadence or have one form break. The second time they get off cadence or have a form break, the test is over and the number of curl ups performed is recorded. This assessment targets overall core/abdominal strength & endurance.
Pacer
Sit and reach
This is the fastest assessment to measure. Each student will get 2 attempts to stretch on both the right and left legs (as shown on right). Lower scores can help identify a potential risk in low-back injury due to poor hamstring flexibility. Incorporating "dynamic" stretching/warmups into both physical education activities AND at home can help increase flexibility of these muscle groups. Research has not shown any significant gains from "static" stretches at this age level. Some studies even show a detrimental effect. We all know that we never stretch a cold muscle. And the fact of the matter is that young students are not mini adults. They are much more flexible as their muscles/joints are the extremely pliable. At the elementary level, girls will typically be more flexible and score higher than boys.