Trump revived presidential fitness test. Will recess, PE get a boost?

On a hot August day at Copperview Elementary School, fourth graders are chasing balls and climbing ropes and spinning on playground equipment. The new school year is just a week old and the children are a blur of activity, some playing soccer while others invent games. The recess aides play, too, sometimes competing and other times gently coaching.

On this school playground in Midvale, Utah, they settle disputes like whether a ball went out of bounds with “rock, paper, scissors.” And there’s never a last kid picked for teams. Instead, each is randomly assigned to either the blue or yellow team by a staffer who draws colored popsicle sticks from a cup as the children head outside.

“Fair teams equal more fun,” said Meredith Dolny, a physical education and health specialist in Canyons School District.

But recess isn’t just about fun, Teri Davis, Utah State Board of Education physical education specialist, told Deseret News by email.

“Physical activity is crucial for students’ mental, physical and social well-being. Recess and PE help maintain a balance in these areas. Reducing or eliminating these activities does not only harm students’ health and well-being but also negatively affects their academic performance and comprehension,” she said.

What looks like an enjoyable add-on is in reality a valuable education tool — and one that’s fiercely protected at Copperview by Dolny, principal Daniel Ashbridge and assistant principal Raschell Davis, who are watching the kids play from the sidelines. They know the combined 45 minutes a day the children get here to wiggle and giggle, socialize and move, challenging themselves physically and burning energy will help them focus and learn better when they’re back in class. They are growing self-confidence, life skills and healthy habits they’ll take with them for the rest of their lives, Dolny said.

But not everyone sees the value of physical activity in school. As policymakers, educators and others try to boost test scores in math, sciences and English, among other subjects, many schools and districts nationwide have for years chipped away at physical education, stealing moments for “more academic subjects.”

Physical education is the “ugly step-child that gets dumped on, picked on, taken out,” said David Barney, an associate professor in Brigham Young University’s Department of Teacher Education, who specializes in and studies physical education. But what may be viewed as play time, he said, is vital to not only health, but learning.

Kids Need Recess reports that in the last two decades, “average weekly recess time in U.S. schools has declined by 60 minutes,” despite research showing its many benefits to students.

One wonders if recent revival of the Presidential Fitness Test will again focus attention on physical activity and its importance in school at a time when the concept has largely been buried under books. Experts Deseret News consulted all said they hope so.

The Presidential Fitness Test

President Donald Trump signed an executive order reviving the Presidential Fitness Test, which was established during the Eisenhower administration and which has changed some over the years, with the Obama administration replacing it in favor of focusing on improving health overall.

Trump’s order also revitalizes the Presidential Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition; he appointed sports figures to serve on it.

What the fitness test itself will contain isn’t known yet, but traditionally students have done a one-mile run, push-ups, pull-ups and sit-ups, among other exercises. Those who meet or exceed the 85th percentile on the test will earn a Presidential Fitness Award.

Andrea McMurtry, Ball State University undergrad coordinator of physical education and health, said she’s “excited that President Trump and Secretary (Robert F.) Kennedy (Jr.) are at least using this as a platform to recognize children are not getting enough fitness throughout the day. The only way to ensure they get critical parts of their lives is if we include them in school.”

Research links physical activity to improving memory, attention span and focus, as well as counteracting mental health challenges like anxiety and depression, she said.

McMurtry sees fitness and education as working together, rather than competing for resources. But she does hope that only honoring those at 85% level and above nationally will not discourage children from trying. In theory it should be motivating, she added.

There are also concerns that physical education will become a teach-to-the-test process where efforts focus exclusively on what will be measured to get the award.

Baltazar Villanueva of Broomfield, Colorado, hopes the fitness test will be less test and more an opportunity to develop skills and love for exercise and healthy living. He’s a personal trainer certified by the National Academy of Sports Medicine and has spent years teaching children martial arts.

He said he’s watched children grow in both skill and confidence that stretch well beyond activities themselves. Plus he’s a dad who sees how little activity his 10-year-old daughter gets during the school day. It’s a far cry from his own school experience, when recess was a daily event. He’s happy that might get a boost from the president’s announcement.

But he thinks the effort could fall short. “A test doesn’t make kids healthy — opportunities and practice do. Think of academics: Students take math, language arts or science daily, which gives them consistent practice. Gym is often rotated with music, art or other electives, meaning some kids may only get 30–60 minutes of structured physical activity twice a week. That’s not enough to build real fitness.”

He, too, worries that some will get discouraged by the 85% mark and feel destined to fail. “That could send the message that exercise is not for them, the opposite of what we want.”

Physical education a key to learning

John Gallucci, owner of JAG Physical Therapy in New York and New Jersey, sees it differently. A national push for fitness can’t help but be beneficial, he said.

The physical therapist works with children as young as 3 who are overweight and have stiff joints and musculoskeletal problems due to inactivity. He sees people of all ages who are sedentary and suffering consequences like type 2 diabetes and obesity. He believes the “decline in physical education programs in schools has been contributing to the sedentary lifestyle of children,” which carries into adulthood. ”I think bringing back the President’s Council and implementing programs and targets for children to exercise is amazing.”

He remembers — and laments loss of — when physical education was 45 minutes to an hour in every school day. “The most frustrating thing is children just are not taught the appropriate way to help themselves, and most people don’t realize that fitness, endurance, stretching and strengthening are the most important things, especially in ages 3 to 5 and 6 to 12. Plus it tells the child movement and exercise are important in our lives every day, and it’ll combat some of these childhood diseases that we’re seeing at an early age.”

If the Presidential Fitness Test isn’t well-thought out, though, McMurtry said it will be like a spelling bee. “Those really good at it will want to practice and then show off their skills, as they should. But if you see the goal as unachievable, you’re not going to try.”

She said she’d rather see kids work not toward an elite level, but toward a “healthy zone.” Everyone who can reach a healthy zone should be recognized. “I want them to love being healthy and want to exercise,” she said.

Time for recess

Deborah J. Rhea, professor of kinesiology and director of the LiiNK Center at Texas Christian University, answers whether the fitness test will bolster fitness efforts at school with “it depends. The reason I say that is too many people think as long as we put them in a structured setting around physical education, their fitness will go up, that everything will be better. But without the recess piece, physical education will not be better.”

Recess and free play provide opportunities for kinesthetic movement that helps lubricate limbs, prevents injury and strengthens brain-body connection, she said. “When they don’t have that, their gross and fine motor skills do not develop properly.”

Rhea said child-directed play for those reasons should come before PE, which itself is a positive result of their ability to play and run and do all those different jumping, dodging, climbing kinds of activities outside. If PE comes first, without a recess free-play component alongside it, musculoskeletal issues arise, weakening one side of the body or the other depending on the sport, which often focus on swinging or throwing with one arm or the other, she said. ”We lose the ability to use both sides of our body. That motor competency, that ability to develop the muscular strength that’s key to kids and recess” can be lost.

Kids need to climb trees and chase butterflies and dig in the dirt and chase something around and move in different ways, she said. Once in school, they need both PE and recess. That those have gone away at all is bad news for the U.S. She cites data showing Finland, which maintains time for a lot of physical activity for kids in school, soars on academic tests.

Creating opportunities for well-being

The Navajo Nation spans 27,000 square miles, and many of its young residents live in remote areas, without the opportunity to participate in traditional sports like basketball and football. For years, Amy Denet Deal and volunteers have tried to boost physical activity and other aspects of well-being through her nonprofit, 4KINSHIP. They chose a distinctly unique path: skateboards.

With help from donations, grants, the Tony Hawk’s Skatepark Project and singer Jewel’s Inspiring Children Foundation, Denet Deal’s group teamed with the Two Grey Hills community to build the Navajo Nation’s only skatepark; she said it won’t be the last.

The group has distributed 5,000 skateboards so far to youths and plans to deliver 2,000 more next week in Window Rock, Arizona. Under the banner of Indigenous Futures 4Ever, the nonprofit is planning major upgrades to the Diné Skate Garden in Two Grey Hills, said Denet Deal, a self-described Diné matriarch.

“Skateboarding is transformative,” she said. “They can do it anytime. With friends. By themselves. It’s awesome for physical health and mental health. It’s expressive. I get told ‘skateboarding saved my life.’”

Denet Deal said physical activity is a way to address diabetes, a high suicide rate and addiction issues. It’s about balance. “You fall down and get back up. It’s a life lesson for all of us.”

Healthy body, healthy mind

Copperview administrators Ashbridge and Davis agree that discipline problems and bad behavior decrease when students have periods of physical activity. Meanwhile, test scores are on the rise. Small bodies in motion enhance mental and physical health.

Zack Barnes, associate professor of special education and literacy at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee, ties lack of physical activity in schools to “negative outcomes on student self-regulation and executive function. These are key cognitive functions that develop during early childhood that are critical for academics and behavior.”

He said research shows “keeping kids moving around the classroom during the day may also increase executive function skills. Physical activity and recess with unstructured play is a necessity in schools so that children can develop into well-rounded children.”

He added, “I am really concerned, both as a parent and researcher, on the lack of self-regulation development in our students. Physical activity is one way to help.”

While the assumption that children can play after school or participate in sports and be active at home may drive some of the chiseling away at physical activities in schools, Dolny knows from interactions with families that not all children have access to safe and accessible physical activity at home. “It becomes another socioeconomic divide if it’s not provided in school,” she said.

McMurtry finds it discouraging that schools view PE as a nice, but not needed add-on. She said some schools allow waivers and online PE credits. Recess has often been cut to 15 minutes or less daily.

She refutes the notion that PE is too expensive. Schools could do a lot. They could take advantage of community partnerships. They could start the school day with a 15-minute walk.

Teaching how matters, McMurtry said, noting many children during COVID didn’t learn how to play outside.

Her doctorate research was on the impact childhood PE experiences have on the adults they become. “People who have terrible memories of experiences in PE go on to hate exercise as an adult because it was forced on them or they felt shamed or embarrassed,” she said.

Withholding recess as punishment

Which brings up one last point when it comes to teaching kids both fitness and love for it.

Not one of these experts thinks recess should be withheld as a punishment, any more than a teacher would hold a kid back from math. “Don’t do that, please,” BYU’s Barney said.

Recess helps solve the very issues that create the urge to withhold recess, Ashbridge said.

It’s such a bad idea that some states have rules about it. New Jersey, for instance, mandates daily recess and requires that “recess cannot be withheld except for serious conduct violations, such as those involving harassment or bullying, and no student may be denied recess more than twice a week. If recess is withheld, students must instead participate in restorative justice activities aimed at improving social and emotional skills,” per The Boys Initiative.

The American Academy of Pediatrics also says no to using recess as punishment.

While the rules and duration vary, Kids Need Recess reported a recess mandate in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut , District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Missouri, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Virginia and Washington.

Many other states, including Utah, Mississippi and Colorado, recommend recess or require general physical activity. But they stop short of mandates. Utah’s Board of Education has best-practice guidelines for recess, including advice to avoid using physical activity as a punishment.