Welcome to
PE Universe™

Where physical educators come together to share ideas and build community.

Share your ideas with the PE network! Join Now to become a member; it's FREE! Already a member? Sign in to start sharing your ideas!
Register
ClipboardsClipboards
Click to add an idea

Grading on Fitness Testing

Posted By: Brian Hull on Wed, Oct 21, 2009 3:26 AM| Views: 718
|
|

Description

Hey everyone-

     I'm student teaching this semester at a middle school and an elementary school. I wanted to get some opinions on how they grade their students' on their fitness tests, such as the pacer test, push-up test, sit-and-reach test, etc. Many teachers tell me that they pretty much grade their students on their ability, meaning if a student gets 2 push-ups, that's "developing" when comparing that score to the district standards/requirements, so he/she would have to get a 1. The tell me their reasoning behind this is that every other class has their standards that students SHOULD be at (i.e. 2nd graders should be able to multiply by 3's). Well, if those students aren't able to multiply, then their grade suffers because it's part of their 2nd grade criteria. Should P.E. be the same when it comes to fitness testing?

    I also know a few P.E. teachers who grade their students just on improvement. For instance, if they had a student that did 5 push-ups for the pre-test, and then 5-6 weeks later that SAME student does 11 push-ups, they will give that student a 3 (proficient) or 4 (advanced) for that test, even though 11 isn't considered proficient or advanced under the district's rubric.

    What do you think is the more appropriate/better way to grade fitness testing? I would appreicate it I could get a few replies on this. Thanks!!

 -Brian


Comments (6) Comment RSS

jamie griggs wrote: on Oct 27, 2009 01:25 PM
Brian,    I think you are getting into a very sticky area here.  Your best bet is to go with what your district says to do with fitness testing.  Speaking from an elementary stand point most districts requires that "students participate a physical fitness test". Very little is mentioned about grading them on one, most tests say dont grade them on it.  If you do anything above and beyond what your district asks, you may run into a problem if a parent challenges you on it.  So if the district says just participate, and you suddenly are lowering a students grade due to poor performance, you may find little or no support from your principal.   There are studies out now that show when teachers are grading on a fitness test, they spend upwards of 50% of thier time practicing test items in the class.  My personal belief is, that is too much time practicing, especially if you only have them 1 or two times a week.  I take the first 5-8 minutes of our warm up and practice one item only. Then move on to the activity, which still leaves up 45+ minuts. You need to ask yourself a few questions.  Are you basing a whole 9 weeks grade on one test??  If so can you justify 8 weeks of activity based on one weeks testing?  Are you helping the students in the long term by grading them, or turning them off to activity?  Are you following local and state guidlines?? Is the administrative staff going to support you if questioned by a parent??I think you really want to educate parents, staff and studnets on what is healthy.  Be very careful also about grading a child based on their BMI or skinfolds.  There are national guidlines for this, but you are walking a fine line here.  If you do grade them on it, make it a very small portion of their grade, and thier is nothing to say that students couldnt be graded on both performance and improvement.  Good Luck
Daniel Hill wrote: on Nov 06, 2009 11:21 AM
I don't feel at the elementary level students need to be "graded" on their fitness level.  So many factors go into what effects their fitness....maturation being one of them.  If you do a battery of fitness tests in the fall and then again in the spring....of course they are going to score better....they've GROWN!  I feel students need to know what fitness is, how to achieve it, how to maintain it and most of all....why they need it!  I just think focusing on Fitness testing creates an environment that many may feel is distasteful, the tests are many times not valid and are all extremely time consuming.  My advice....focus on other things rather than testing. 
Kris Fatze wrote: on Nov 16, 2009 01:33 PM
Hi! I too feel that there should not be grading on the fitness level of students. We do fitness activities, but we choose to test on the Team Sport Activities. I give skill tests and written tests at the Elementary level.I believe that it would be too difficult to test on fitness testing. We have to test on the Standards, so we test on each of the Units that we are teaching. I prefer skill testing on what we are teaching at the time, and allowing the time for fitness testing to be a personal growth opportunity for students.
Brian Hull wrote: on Nov 16, 2009 01:35 PM
Hey Kris-How do you assess your K-3 students with written tests? I've been trying to think of ways, but their reading levels aren't up to "par" yet....?
Sbarrera wrote: on Dec 23, 2009 04:29 PM
Hi, Testing is a way of seeing how our students are doing; however, at the elementary level our goal should be not to measure the amount of push ups, curl ups, or other but to make sure that they are able to perform the tasks appropriately. I assess the performance ability. If students are able to demonstrate the correct form of the activity then they can practice it to increase their fitness which is what we want, to get kids active. If we emphasize the amount or measurement students might shun away from it. I suggest that the assessment for elementary students should be based on the performance of the form. From there we can guide them to work on increasing their fitness level. 
Tom wrote: on May 20, 2010 06:54 PM
Easy--have the kids create their own scoring rubrics for each skill.  They can always be modified once they participate in the fitness activities.  In fact, you may even use that information to help teach goal-setting and persistence to your classes.  Also the students have the say, not the 1966 National Standards of what they should/should not be able to do fitness wise.  I even let them have a student created fitness station among the standards--they have come up with the "Bingo Bullfrog Jump Center"  Our mascot is the bullfrogs.  basically how many BINGO bullfrog jumps can they do in one minute cumuluative?  the rubric is: 1 - 5 jumps  =  B, 6-10 = I, 11-15 = N, 16-20 = G, 21 or more they can yell, "BULLFROG BINGO!"

Share

Shortened URL

Copy and paste this URL into emails, blogs, and websites to link to this video.

Related Pages