Inappropriate Practices in Fitness Testing and Reporting: Alternative Strategies

Fitness education is becoming an integrated component for many physical education programs. As such, many physical educators conduct health-related fitness tests on a regular basis. Some states even mandate certain types of physical fitness tests to be administered and reported annually or by semester. Yet, inappropriate practices have been observed in the field and in the laboratory when researchers examine teacher-reported fitness data. These practices include (1) doing only the minimum to meet the test criteria, (2) not testing students with disabilities through exemptions, (3) testing a few students on display while having others as audience, (4) compromising the tests by being too flexible or helpful, (5) testing without teaching, and (6) fabricating test results. When these practices show in the gymnasium or are found in reported fitness data, they invalidate testing efforts and objectives, and damage the image of all physical educators. This article describes these inappropriate practices and discusses some alternative strategies for them.