COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
P.O. BOX 2120
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA 23218-2120
SUPTS. MEMO NO. 68
May 17, 2002
INFORMATIONAL
|
TO: |
Division
Superintendents |
|
FROM: |
Jo Lynne
DeMary Superintendent
of Public Instruction |
|
SUBJECT: |
Virginia Wellness-Related Fitness Test
Data Analysis |
The Department of Education is pleased to offer a data analysis
service for your divisions 2001-2002 Wellness-Related Fitness Test data. This
local and state data collection system is submitted electronically, and the
school, division, and state fitness summaries are calculated for you.
The primary objective of this assessment program is to provide
students, teachers, and parents with the necessary information to design an
individualized fitness program for each student. The Virginia Wellness-Related
assessment measures two components of fitness identified as important because
of their relationship to health and learning. The two components are aerobic
capacity and muscular strength, endurance, and flexibility. Body fat
composition impacts student health; however, it is not included in this
assessment program because of the sensitive issues involved in collecting
height and weight and skin fold thickness data needed to calculate the percent
of body fat.
The Virginia Wellness-Related Fitness Test uses current
criterion-reference standards to assess student health related fitness. This
testing program emphasizes maintaining an acceptable level of physical fitness--not
athletic physical fitness. The standards at the lower end of the Wellness
Fitness Zone represent the level of fitness that offers some degree of
protection against mortality, and hopefully motivates students to move out of
the lower 20 percent sedentary lifestyle population. The upper end of the
Wellness Fitness Zone corresponds to a higher level of athletic fitness that
includes up to 60 percent of the K-12 population.
The
Fitness Data Analysis Excel Spreadsheets and instructions
for manual and electronic data entry are available on the Department of Educations website at www.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/Instruction/PE/.
Electronic submission of the division data will be
aggregated and posted as a part of the state summary at http://www.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/Instruction/PE/StateSum02.pdf.
Division names will not be identified on the state summary.
I hope your staff will take advantage of this data analysis
service. If you need additional information about the Virginia Wellness-Related
Fitness Test, please contact Vanessa Wigand at (804) 225-3300 or (vwigand@mail.vak12ed.edu).
JLD/VW/jbn