Students’ Lack of Fitness Is Worrying : Health: Overall, students in county tested higher than the state average, but scores were still low enough to cause concern.

San Diego County’s schoolchildren performed slightly better than the statewide average in a physical fitness test--which is a far cry from saying they were physically fit.

According to a report released Monday by the county Office of Education, only 20% of fifth-graders, 29% of seventh-graders and 35% of ninth-graders were able to meet four out of five fitness standards that included sit-ups, pull-ups, a “sit and reach” flexibility test, a mile run, and an optional body-fat assessment.

The results were marginally better than last year’s.

“The numbers are about what I had expected, but they’re disappointing,” said Mary Blackman, physical education and health coordinator for the county office of education. “We have a lot of work to do, we as in teachers and we as in students.”

The county results were slightly better than statewide figures released Monday that showed 17% of fifth-graders, 21% of seventh-graders and 26% of ninth-graders meeting standards in four tests.

Students are considered physically fit if they are able to reach four of the physical standards.

Blackman said that part of the problem has been lack of emphasis on physical education in the training of teachers.

“There aren’t many physical education teachers at the elementary level, and we have to teach students early because habits begin early,” Blackman said.

Blackman said that many elementary teachers had one or no classes in physical education teaching during their certification, and that California schools fall far behind those in other states, such as New York, Florida and Arizona, where every elementary school has at least one physical education instructor.

“This is a problem that’s going to impact our health-care system because the components tester in this fitness test are health-related components,” Blackman said. “If you are not fit, you will have health problems.”

Alan Richmond, coordinator for health and physical education with the San Diego Unified School District, said schools have to “buy into” the idea that physical fitness is important.

“As a school board, we really need to communicate to our schools that physical education is important and we want to place some priority on that,” Richmond said.

Although the combined numbers for all school districts in the county were above the state average, those for the San Diego Unified School District, which encompasses all schools in the city of San Diego, were below the state average. Only 13% of fifth-graders, 18% of seventh-graders and 19% of ninth-graders achieved minimum scores in four or more of the activities, all of those figure down from 1989. Last year, the figures were 17%, 25% and 22%, respectively.

There was no significant difference in how students of different ethnic groups scored either countywide or in San Diego Unified. Nor did socioeconomic background have a bearing on how well the children did, school officials said.

In response to last year’s scores, San Diego Unified offered workshops to elementary school teachers by physical education teachers from junior high and high schools in an attempt to raise awareness of the importance of physical fitness.

“We have to offer schools some sort of assistance, staff development or whatever it takes, to try to get a school to totally buy into it,” Richmond said.

But Blackman noted that it takes a change in the way teachers perceive physical education.

“It needs daily work, and that includes homework. If the PE class is only 30 minutes long, you can’t cover all the aspects of physical fitness,” Blackman said. “It takes work outside the school day as well.”

Students, as they did last year, found it most difficult to reach the pull-up standard, which is one pull-up for girls at all grade levels, one pull-up for fifth-grade boys, two for seventh-grade boys and five for ninth-grade boys.

Students found it easiest to do the “sit and reach” flexibility tests. The standard for students at all grades is to reach forward 25 centimeters toward their feet in a sitting position with legs forward.

FITNESS TEST RESULTS

San Diego County’s students scored slightly better on physical fitness than did students statewide, based on the number who were able to achieve standards in four different exercises. For example, 20% of county students were able to achieve all four standards, compared with 17% statewide and 13% for the San Diego Unified School District.

Number of Standards Achieved

4 3 2 1 0 GRADE 5 San Diego Unified 13 18 26 28 15 Countywide 20 21 24 23 12 Statewide 17 21 26 25 12 GRADE 7 San Diego Unified 18 24 26 23 10 Countywide 29 24 22 17 7 Statewide 21 25 25 20 9 GRADE 9 San Diego Unified 19 28 26 21 7 Countywide 35 26 21 14 4 Statewide 26 26 24 18 6

Source: San Diego County Office of Education and San Diego Unified School District.