Fitness Testing in Physical Education, Teacher Education (PETE) Programs Timothy Baghurst Health and Human Performance Oklahoma State University

Introduction  Staffo and Stier (2000) reported that PETE chairpersons valued physical fitness, yet many did not specifically test student fitness levels.  Baghurst and Bryant (2012) questioned the efficacy of currently used fitness tests citing their controversy.  There remains little consensus on why, when, and how PETE fitness testing should be conducted.

Theoretical Standpoints  Fitness testing reinforces the logical rationale that PETE programs should want their students to not only teach healthy and fit lifestyle habits to their students, but model them also.  Modeling health and fitness is an expected standard (NASPE, 2014).  Conversely, others suggest that a student’s fitness is a societal not programmatic problem (Ross, Jones, & Deerness, 2007), and may have liability issues (Baghurst & Bryant, 2012).

The Problem  “[The] diverse form of testing may in part help explain why this issue is so controversial, for it raises many debatable questions. What is the definition of fitness? How fit is fit? What should be the passing grade? What if someone looks fit, but they are not fit? What if someone looks unfit but they are fit? Does a higher education institution have the right to enforce this kind of testing?” (Baghurst & Bryant, 2012, p.12)

Study Purpose  To investigate the differing measures used or not used to assess fitness levels of PETE students in United States four year colleges.

Method – Participants  169 PETE decision makers in 4 year institutions where the program led to licensure.  A master list comprised of 592 universities; 195 participants began the survey (32.94% response rate).  106 indicated that their program conducted fitness testing whereas 63 participants indicated that they did not fitness test.

Methods – Instruments  Online survey that contained both closed (Likert- type questions) and open-ended questions.  All participants were asked demographic information about PETE (e.g., NCATE accredited) and six questions concerning opinions of the importance of physical educator fitness and fitness testing.

Methods – Procedure  IRB approval, contact found from university lists and university websites.  s were sent to participants with a 7 day follow-up reminder.

Results – Who is Tested and When  Wide variations  Only 35% required other majors to complete fitness tests.  Testing periods were Course Driven/Convenient (38.55%), To Address Concerns (28.82%), Compliance with Accreditation (20%), and Other (12.63%).

Results – Administrator and Test Details  45% used multiple faculty, 37% a PETE faculty member, 4% PETE coordinator, 7% other students.  82% used a standardized test FITNESSGRAM being most common (65%).

Results – Passing, Failing, & Avoiding  Wide variations even when using FITNESSGRAM  If failed, retake with remediation (49.56%), no option for remediation but retest (35.78%) and Other (14.66%) which included those that did not require any passing requirements.

Results - Why Fitness Test  Accreditation (42.86%)  Dispositions (23.47%)  Educational (21.43%)  Other (12.24%)

Results - Why Not Fitness Test?  Philosophical and Ethical Issues (61.2%)  Measurement and Testing Issues/Constraints (20.7%)  Other (18.1%)

Results – Combined Opinions Regarding Fitness Testing  Participants were very supportive of physical education professionals being fit. They were also, but to a lesser degree, supportive of the suggestions that PETE students should be required to pass a fitness test and that practicing physical educators should be required to pass a fitness test on a regular basis.

Results – Combined Opinions Regarding Fitness Testing  Participants were asked their opinions on the following statements:  Physical fitness is an important attribute of a physical educator.  PETE students should be required to pass a fitness test or tests to graduate.  Elementary and middle school physical educators should be physically fit.  Secondary high school educators should be physically fit.  University physical education instructors should be physically fit.  Physical education teachers working in schools should be required to pass a fitness test (e.g. FitnessGram) on a regular basis just like other professions such as the military and firefighters.

Results – Combined Opinions Regarding Fitness Testing  Those programs that did fitness test were significantly more supportive of requiring PETE students to pass a fitness test or not [F(1, 160) = 14.52, p <.01].  Fitness testing of physical education teachers received significantly more support from fitness testing programs than their non-fitness testing counterparts [(F(1, 160) = 4.78, p <.05].  Participants’ opinions on the other four statements were not statistically different based whether the program fitness tested and opinions on all six statements did not significantly differ by whether the program was NCATE accredited (p >.05).

Discussion About Testing  Testing needs to cross disciplines.  When testing takes place appears to be driven by how and when it can fit within a specific course.  There are testing issues when using multiple faculty and students.  There is little consensus on passing requirements even when using FITNESSGRAM.  Remediation assistance was lacking in many programs.

Discussion About Testing  2/3 of respondents that did not fitness test were NCATE accredited. What are they doing to meet standards?  It is encouraging that the majority of PETE decision makers value fitness amongst physical educators at all levels and believe that they should be fit.  Baghurst and Bryant (2012) suggested that many physical educators at all levels practice unhealthy behaviors and would not be perceived as fit by their students.

Discussion About Opinions  While most participants strongly supported fitness values, testing was more controversial.  It would be also be interesting to ascertain how enthusiastic PETE decision makers would be about testing themselves. Vice versa, physical education teachers may have different opinions about fitness testing both themselves and collegiate physical education faculty.

Discussion  The ambiguity of NASPE standard three appears to have led many programs to make their own interpretation.  Our study found differences among programs for almost every aspect of fitness testing resulting in an unstandardized, almost haphazard measure of fitness.  A recommendation based on our data would be for accreditation bodies to clearly stipulate the expected requirements for meeting and achieving standards associated with the demonstration of health and fitness among students.

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