1. ABC Fit A New Paradigm Glenn Young, BEd, MEd
Physical Education and Athletics Coordinator
Surrey Physical Education

2. Why Schools Fitness Test
To improve overall performance
Diagnosing weakness/deficiency
Improvement over baseline
Effectiveness of program
Gathering data
Communicate achievement
Only standardized test we have for PE
Surrey Physical Education

3. Lab vs Field Based Tests
Much more accurate than field based
Lab tests to costly
Can not be replicated with large numbers
Surrey Physical Education

4. Field-Based Fitness Tests
Canada Fitness Award, CFA (1970), European Test of Physical Fitness, Eurofit (1988), President’s Challenge, Fitnessgram
Focus primarily on Health-Related components of fitness (endurance, flexibility, strength)
Surrey Physical Education

5. What are we actually measuring?
Genetics/heredity (potential)
Maturation (young people show a linear increase in VO2 max w/age)
Intervention (our PE programs, PA programs)
Motivation
Lifestyle
Skilled at taking the test
NOT True Improvement
Surrey Physical Education

6. Surrey Physical Education
Critical Questions
Are you fit?
How do you know?
What criteria did you use?
Surrey Physical Education

7. Surrey Physical Education
ABC Fitness
District has defined fitness for our students
Aerobic Fitness (4 station circuit)
Balance (Stork)
Core (Plank)
Surrey Physical Education

8. Surrey Physical Education
Why Aerobic?
One of the best indicators of overall fitness
Obvious positive health-related outcomes
Tests are easy to administer to large groups
Many standards developed
Surrey Physical Education

9. Surrey Physical Education
Why Balance?
Used on a daily basis (static & dynamic)
Foundation for all movement
Changing and controlling your center of gravity
Directly rewires the brain
Injury prevention
Surrey Physical Education

10. Surrey Physical Education
Why Core?
Bridges lower body to upper body
Effective force transfer and skillful movement depend on the core to sustain proper spinal position
Enhances throwing, jumping, rotary skills
Engine of the body
Wrong focus on extremities first
Surrey Physical Education

11. Surrey Physical Education
Why a Paradigm Shift
Fitness testing antithetical to the goal of promoting physical activity
Children are not small adults
Tests need to be appropriate
Testing needs to be efficient
Functional fitness (used daily) before performance
Criterion referenced standards
Safe--not maximal exertion or to exhaustion
Promote learning and positive attitudes
Surrey Physical Education

12. Effects on Children of Fitness Testing
Intrinsic motivation increased with positive feedback after test, but decreased after negative feedback (Whitehead & Corbin, 1991)
Major contributor to negative attitudes towards PE (Luke & Sinclair, 1991)
Tests only motivate those that do well (PEA, 1988)
Over emphasis on the product-related issues (fitness level, performance) rather than the process-related issues (health, physical activity behavior) (Cale & Harris 2002)
Surrey Physical Education

13. Effects on Children of Fitness Testing
Improper testing turns many “off” activity rather than “on”(Docherty & Bell, 1990, Corbin et al. 1995)
Communicates a false message that competition and excellence are necessary for health and fitness (Cale & Harris, 2005)
Children have little understanding why they are tested (Hopple & Graham, 1995)
Inappropriate or undesirable use of fitness scores to grade children as a primary indicator of achievement (Corbin, 2002)
Surrey Physical Education

14. Recommendations (Cale & Harris, 2005)
Be child-centered & developmentally appropriate
Positive & meaningful experience
Provide individualized baseline scores and feedback to improve
Promote learning and positive attitude towards being active
Scores interpreted carefully because of limitations
Use criterion-referenced standards
Surrey Physical Education

15. Surrey Physical Education
Aerobic Fitness
Grade 8
Emerging
Developing
Acquired
Accomplished
Aerobic Fitness
Uses more than 3 rest intervals to engage in moderate physical activities for less than 10 minutes
Uses 1-3 rest intervals to engage in moderate to vigorous physical activities for 10 minutes
Engages in vigorous physical activities continuously for 10 minutes eg. skip, hop, jog, dance, fitness circuit, school run, etc.
Engages in vigorous physical activities continuously for 12 minutes
Surrey Physical Education

16. Surrey Physical Education
Balance
Emerging
Developing
Acquired
Accomplished
Balance
(Stork)
Adjusts body position more than once to achieve the allotted time
Adjusts body position once to achieve the allotted time
Maintains a static body position for 60 seconds
Maintains a static body position for all 3 trials
Surrey Physical Education

17. Surrey Physical Education
Core
Emerging
Developing
Acquired
Accomplished
Core
(Plank)
Uses more than 1 rest interval to maintain the proper position for the allotted time
Uses 1 rest interval to maintain the proper position for the allotted time
Maintains the proper body position for 60 seconds
Maintains the proper body position for 2 trials
Surrey Physical Education

18. Surrey Physical Education
Pilot Results
Surrey Physical Education