Background/Purpose Beginning with the 2008-2009 school year, the state of Texas requires all students grade 3-12 to be assessed once a year using FITNESSGRAM. After the first year of mandatory testing, the Cooper Institute conducted a survey of PE teachers form the state of Texas to get their views and experiences of the testing. This qualitative study focused on the free response question on the survey regarding the negative experiences that PE teachers encountered during testing: “Did you note or experience any negative consequences associated with the required fitness tests in your school? Negative experiences may include anxiety, sadness/ crying, teasing. Please provide a brief description.”
Method Of the 1,589 surveys received, 263 teachers commented on the question. Their responses were read and coded, both manually and using the NVIVO 8 software, into eleven categories.
Analysis/Results Teachers of older grades noted a refusal to participate (16%), a lack of effort (18%) and teasing of those who showed effort (5%) during the testing. For younger grades, teachers reported much anxiety related to testing, including frustration (22%) and teasing (20%) due to poor scores. Overall, PE teachers noted self consciousness and embarrassment (36%) related to testing especially for overweight students: “The heavier kids didn't want to even try because they knew they wouldn't do that well,” a teacher wrote. Other comments included concerns with test administration due to inadequate facilities and a lack of administrative support (18%).
Conclusions Future test preparation should take these reported negative experiences into consideration.