2010 Fitness Results: Is a Slow-Down in Improvement a Momentary Blip?
When analyzing public data, don’t you often yearn for the next year of data – just one more year to help inform a phenomenon you may be seeing? A case in point is the recently released fitness data from the California Department of Education, where 2010 results seem to show a somewhat different story from previous years’ results.
From 2006 to 2009, the percentage of California 5th, 7th, and 9th graders meeting all six state fitness standards increased by about 2 percentage points annually on average, contributing to a decade-long improvement in this measure of kids’ fitness. Then, from ’09 to ’10, that improvement appeared to stall, in the form of a 0.5 percentage point increase on average for 5th, 7th, and 9th-graders in California.
Is this possible slow-down in improvement only a momentary blip? Or are we perhaps starting to see repercussions from the recession and the state’s budget woes? Over the last few years, school districts statewide have been forced to make do with less. Given budgetary demands, some districts surely are finding it more difficult to meet state requirements stipulating how much physical education students need (see this related article from the Orange County Register, as well as this editorial from Los Angeles Times). Moreover, cities across the state regularly face cutbacks that possibly mean reductions in the park and recreation services they offer.
These factors may be contributing to the small improvement in fitness scores from 2009 to 2010. But to determine what is really going on, we need 2011 data and additional analysis from the experts.
Meantime, the local perspective can help shed light on the statewide results. So we encourage our readers across California to post a comment describing what they’re seeing. Are there cutbacks to programs that provide physical education – or outdoor playtime – to children locally? If so, what kind of impact are you seeing?
Posted by Andy Krackov
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