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Abstract Most secondary school physical education programs do not include cardiovascular endurance training. This study investigated the hypothesis that an endurance running program implemented in the physical education classes of an entire school system would result in an increased aerobic capacity of the student population as measured by the Cooper 12-min test. A description of the program conducted within the Fort Worth Independent School District for the fall semester 1971–72 is presented. A total of 1,215 students participated in the program: 778 students from 5 schools were placed in the experimental group, and 437 students from 4 schools were included in the control group. Each student was pre- and posttested according to the Cooper 12-min run-walk test. The students in the experimental group added jogging to their daily physical education classes; initially, they ran 5 to 6 min and progressed to 14 min by the end of the term. The control group participants continued their normal activity; no student was required to run more than 300 yd except during the pre- and posttests. The results of this program showed that the endurance of the students in the experimental group increased by 17.5%; the endurance of the control group participants remained relatively constant. It was concluded that an endurance training program can be implemented effectively in an entire school system and that the change in fitness can be expected to be significant.
Cooper et al. (Wed,) studied this question.