The fitness program at Peter Burnett Elementary is designed to exceed the standards set by the State of California. The Sacramento City Unified School District is required by the State of California to test all 5th grade students with five tests. The tests rate abdominal strength, trunk extension strength, upper body strength, flexibility, and body composition. At best, the results have been dismal. The state’s passing rate is 30%, district wide, the passing rate barely exceeds 50%. At Peter Burnett, the passing rate has stayed in the 85% to 90% percent range consistently over the past five years. The following is an outline what the school does to maintain the results.
At Peter Burnett, we expect that nine out of ten students should be able to achieve a passing level of fitness performance by the 5th grade. All students begin the fitness training in the 3rd grade. The students are tested on modified versions of the actual 5th grade tests. The students are aware of the high standards set at their school and are confident in their ability to achieve the same, impressive results. The results of previous years are shared and posted for all of the students to see.
Here at Peter Burnett, we have been fortunate enough to be able to access and maintain the equipment essential to maintain the results year after year. Strongly supported by the principal and the community, Peter Burnett has managed to purchase high jump equipment, mats, vertical jump equipment, several sets of colored jerseys, field marking equipment, broad jump mats, and even a CD player, just to name a few. The installation of a fitness area has also helped maintain a high standard. Maintaining the school’s equipment requires a constant level of maintenance. Painting lines, clearing the field, marking locations, setting up and removing (equipment), and the administration of the necessary equipment show only a small part of the tasks that are performed.
The fitness program itself is the end result of many months of fitness building, training and planned exercises. Different than the state and district, we test every 4th, 5th, and 6th student on eleven fitness tests. Here the students are challenged to meet a higher level of fitness mastery, enabling the students to easily meet and/or exceed not just the district but the state requirements. The tests are designed to encompass all aspects of total body fitness, and the tests can be broken down into the following categories:
Every year, the administrator of this program performs 5,000-6,000 tests a year at Peter Burnett Elementary. The approximately 300 who students are allowed to retake any of the 11 tests more than once easily numbers into the thousands. The requirement to complete the program elements outside of the normal school hours adds up to 300 additional hours per year.
One of the key elements to this program is motivation. Again, thanks to the support of the principal and the community, up to 1,000 are invested annually in the reward part of the program. Medals are purchased, school records are maintained for all three grade levels. Students can achieve medals and certificates from each of the 11 tests at the end of the year. As a result a minimum of sixty students' names are posted, due to performance in all eleven tests. These sixty students number among the 400 other medals given out each year.