California Students a Little Fitter

Last May I reported the U.S. childhood obesity rates may be at a plateau. Time will tell, but numbers coming in from the 2008 California Physical Fitness Test show students are improving, even if slightly. That's cause for a smile.

This test measures six fitness areas and is given to students in grades five, seven and nine. In California, all three grades showed a slight year-to-year increase, with ninth graders realizing a 5.5 percent increase of students reaching the Healthy Fitness Zone across all six requirements. Think about it, that's one more fit student out of every 20, not bad. One expert reported this kind of jump had not been seen in several years. Check out California's comprehensive results here.

Yet let's face it, only about one-third of California students achieved six Healthy Fitness Zone scores (28.5 percent of fifth graders, 32.9 percent of seventh-graders and 35.6 percent of ninth-graders). Not so smiley results.