114             
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES             H.R. NO.              
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                     HOUSE  RESOLUTION

  REQUESTING THE DEVELOPMENT OF STANDARDS AND BENCHMARKS FOR
    PHYSICAL FITNESS AND THE PERFORMANCE OF PERIODIC PHYSICAL
    FITNESS ASSESSMENTS OF PUBLIC ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY
    SCHOOL STUDENTS.



 1        WHEREAS, during the 1992-1993 school year, the revised
 2   American Alliance of Health, Physical Education, Recreation,
 3   and Dance skill-related physical fitness performance test was
 4   administered to public school students in grades kindergarten
 5   to twelve to assist school personnel and the Department of
 6   Education in determining the extent to which the State's
 7   physical education program was successful in meeting one of its
 8   major objectives--physical fitness; and
 9   
10        WHEREAS, the findings from the physical fitness
11   performance test of students enrolled in physical education
12   were as follows:
13   
14        (1)  Of the 94,619 elementary students, only 22,679 or
15             twenty-four per cent scored at the national goal of
16             fifty per cent or better on each test item;
17   
18        (2)  Of the 34,938 secondary students, only 8,447 or 24.2
19             per cent of the students scored at the national goal
20             of fifty per cent or better on each test item;
21   
22        (3)  Of the 129,557 elementary and secondary students,
23             only 31,126 or twenty-four per cent scored at the
24             national goal of fifty per cent or better on each
25             test item;
26   
27        (4)  Male students substantially outperformed female
28             students, with 28.3 per cent of male students and
29             only 24.7 per cent of female students scoring at the
30             national goal of fifty per cent or better on each
31             test item;
32   
33        (5)  Students in the Honolulu departmental school district
34             substantially outperformed students in the leeward
35             departmental school district, with 27.5 per cent of
36             students in the Honolulu district and only 16.7 per

 
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                                  H.R. NO.              
                                                        
                                                        


 1             cent of students in the leeward district scoring at
 2             the national goal of fifty per cent or better on each
 3             test item; and
 4   
 5        WHEREAS, this report showed that the majority of Hawaii's
 6   public school students scored below the desired level on the
 7   physical fitness performance test.  Policymakers, educators,
 8   researchers, and physicians must work together to resolve this
 9   problem or, as adults, these students will face increased
10   health care costs, reduced productivity in the workplace, and a
11   reduced quality of life; and
12   
13        WHEREAS, although there are no simple solutions to
14   resolving these problems, including the problems of gender and
15   departmental school district inequity, the preventive and
16   developmental advantages of vigorous physical activity are
17   well-documented.  Research shows that physically active
18   students are healthier and better able to learn and perform in
19   the classroom; now, therefore,
20   
21        BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the
22   Twentieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session
23   of 1999, that the Department of Education, with the assistance
24   of the Department of Health, the University of Hawaii, the
25   county departments of parks and recreation, the Division of
26   Parks and Recreation of the County of Kauai, the Hawaii
27   Recreation and Parks Association, and the Hawaii Chapter of the
28   American Academy of Pediatricians, is requested to develop
29   standards and benchmarks for physical fitness and to perform
30   periodic physical fitness assessments of public elementary and
31   secondary school students; and
32   
33        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Education is
34   requested to submit the standards and benchmarks for physical
35   fitness and a schedule for performing periodic physical fitness
36   assessments of public elementary and secondary school students
37   to the Legislature not less than twenty days prior to the
38   convening of the Regular Session of 2001, or sooner; and
39   
40        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this
41   Resolution be transmitted to the Chairperson of the Board of
42   Education, the Superintendent of Education, the Director of
43   Health, the Chairperson of the Board of Regents of the
44   University of Hawaii, the President of the University of
45   Hawaii, the directors of the county departments of parks and
46   recreation, the Administrator of the Division of Parks and

 
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                                  H.R. NO.              
                                                        
                                                        


 1   Recreation of the County of Kauai, the Hawaii Recreation and
 2   Parks Association, and the Hawaii Chapter of the American
 3   Academy of Pediatricians.
 4 
 5 
 6 
 7                         OFFERED BY:  ____________________________