COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

P.O. BOX 2120

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA 23218-2120

SUPTS. MEMO NO. 108

May 21, 2004

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 2003-2004 Wellness-Related Fitness Test data. This data is submitted electronically, and the school, division, and state fitness summaries are calculated for you.

The Virginia Wellness-Related Fitness Testing Program provides basic health-related fitness assessments to help students evaluate areas of fitness that are directly linked to overall quality of life.  These assessments provide essential information for designing individualized fitness programs for each student.

The Virginia fitness program includes aerobic capacity, muscular strength and endurance, and flexibility--three of the major health-related fitness components directly related to functional health. This assessment program judges each student's fitness level using criterion-reference standards of health and wellness.  When interpreting the Virginia Wellness-Related Fitness Test results, there is a range of scores within the Wellness Zone indicating low fitness, marginal fitness, good fitness, or high performance. The 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.

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/Fitness2004.xls. 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, specialist, health, physical education and driver education, at (804) 225-3300 or e-mail requests to vwigand@mail.vak12ed.edu.

JLD/VW/