Governor Perry held a press conference Monday along with Dr. Kenneth Cooper Senator Jane Nelson (R-Flower Mound) Representative Rob Eissler (R-The Woodlands) and Deputy Education Commissioner Ray Glynn to announce results from the FITNESSGRAM assessment.
The program studied more than two million Texas students grades 3-12 and examined how physical fitness impacted academic performance attendance and disciplinary incidents.
The study established if students were in a healthy fitness zone" for their age by measuring body composition strength aerobic capacity and flexibility and endurance.
Our state and nation are struggling with obesity thanks to the combination of increasingly sedentary lifestyles and the declining of quality diets" said Perry.
I am confident we are on our way to making a difference that will improve and even save lives."
Perry had previously passed a law mandating more exercise for school children. The new law caused 80 percent of school children to take part in an exercise program at school.
While the law had tremendous success in helping kids become more fit there was no data to back up the idea that exercise was a necessity. As Perry stated Without data youre just another person with an opinion."
FITNESSGRAM provided the correct assessment and validation needed to keep physical fitness in schools and an active part of everyday life.
The study proved that students who are physically fit regardless of race or family income are less likely in the future to become obese and more likely to be better behaved achieve greater academic success and attend school regularly.
Dr. Kenneth Cooper founder of Cooper Aerobics Center and the Cooper Institute helped put together the program as well as analyze the data.
Cooper said the levels of activity declined as students got older because of lack of physical education in high schools children do not walk or bike to school like they used to and younger children are naturally more active than older ones.
Third graders were most likely to attain a healthy fitness level zone on all six FITNESSGRAM tests. However only 33.25 percent of girls and 28.6 percent of boys in third grade reached the healthy fitness zone on all six tests.
As grades levels got higher fitness levels declined. Only 8.18 percent of girls in 12th grade and 8.96 percent of boys met healthy standards on all six tests.
Exercise is fertilizer to the brain" said Cooper.
Cooper took 50 academically underperforming children and put them through a 10 week boot camp complete with regular exercise. At the end of the course Cooper said there was a 70 percent increase in the attitude change with the students and the feedback from kids were that they wanted to come back bring friends wanted education on how to eat right with the resources they had etc. For some of the children an exercise boot camp changed their life allowing them to see the possibilities for a better future.
With the economic downturn I think were going to change it with a healthy upturn from our children" exclaimed Cooper.
Perry reiterated his request for the Texas Legislature to allocate $10 million for an incentive based health program targeted to middle and high school students with the lowest FITNESSGRAM performance.
