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From Testing to Meaning: Rethinking How Fitness Is Assessed

As fitness testing makes a comeback, it’s time to move beyond scores and norms and focus on growth, personal bests, and student-centered assessment.

Hi Reader,

As you might be aware, on July 31, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order reinstating the Presidential Fitness Test in public schools across the United States. The announcement has stirred strong reactions from politicians, celebrities, academics, teachers, and parents, yet little agreement exists on what it means for the people at the center of it all: teachers and students. Some schools already rely on tools like FitnessGram, and without clear direction for nationwide implementation, the question remains: how will this actually play out in classrooms and gyms across the US? Even if you don't live or teach in a US school, fitness testing is a topic that sparks discussion and debate in our field.

Fitness testing in physical education often sparks strong opinions. Some teachers see it as a way to highlight and improve student fitness. Others worry it may discourage students, particularly those who struggle with certain measures. For some teachers, fitness testing is optional, while for others it is required by their school, district, or state/province.

Regardless of where you stand or what your current reality with fitness testing looks like, one thing remains true: assessing fitness can and should be purposeful, personal, and growth oriented. Fortunately, there is an assessment approach that achieves this while keeping students at the center: ipsative assessment.

MOVING BEYOND THE NUMBERS

Fitness testing often risks being reduced to a set of scores on a clipboard or a spreadsheet. Traditionally, and in some jurisdictions still, student scores are compared against one another or against pre-established norms. This pits students against each other or an external standard. In either case, individual progress, growth, and achievement are overshadowed by the raw results, minimizing the personal aspect of each student’s journey.

Research and anecdotal evidence worldwide show that traditional approaches rarely motivate most students to stay active or exercise during school or later in life (to be fair, it might for some, but not the masses). For fitness to become a meaningful part of a student’s learning experience, and ultimately a part of their life, it must be personalized.

ASSESSMENT SHOULD BE PERSONAL AND PURPOSEFUL

To make assessment personal and purposeful, students need to actively monitor, evaluate, and reflect on their own growth. This process highlights their progress, personal goals, achievements, and the development of knowledge, skills, and mindsets, ultimately telling a deeper story of their fitness journey.

An assessment approach that embodies this is known as ipsative assessment. It compares a student’s current performance to their own previous results. Instead of asking “How do you compare to the norm/standard?”, we ask “How have you grown since last time?” This shift in perspective allows every student, regardless of their starting point, to experience success and see evidence of their improvement.

IPSATIVE ASSESSMENT: A VISUAL

WHY CONSIDER THIS APPROACH?

Ipsative assessment shifts the focus from external comparisons to personal growth over time. This helps to:

• Encourage all students to experience success, regardless of their starting point.
• Support goal-setting and reflection, helping students take ownership of their learning.
• Provide a richer, more meaningful picture of learning, progress, and skill development.
• Promote intrinsic motivation by focusing on personal progress and decision making.
• Reduce pressure from comparisons to peers or external standards.
• Support long-term development rather than short-term performance.

For us as PE teachers, ipsative assessment can help:

• Teach students about goal setting and reflection (it provides a meaningful context).
• Support individual student growth over time.
• Create conditions for a more motivating and engaging environment.
• Inform instructional decisions by showing where each student is progressing or struggling.

By using ipsative assessment, PE teachers can create an environment where students are engaged, confident, and invested in their own growth, increasing the likelihood that they will see the value in exercise and carry healthier habits into their lives beyond school.

HELPFUL TIPS

Here are some practical steps you can use to make ipsative assessment work effectively in PE:

1. Build fitness knowledge gradually. Teach students about the different components of fitness (e.g., flexibility, muscular strength, muscular endurance, cardiovascular endurance) over time, layering in learning as they go. Example: In weeks 1–2, we explore what cardiovascular endurance is through a variety of activities. In weeks 3–4, we build on this by introducing muscular strength and endurance, again exploring multiple exercises to deepen understanding.
2. Teach self-monitoring skills. Help students learn how to track and adjust their exertion levels during exercise so they can see progress and build capacity over time.
3. Integrate goal-setting. Guide students in setting long-term fitness goals supported by short-term steps. Have them create an action plan that identifies how they’ll work toward their first short-term goal.
4. Offer structured choice. Allow students to select a few exercises for each fitness component to include in their action plans. Choice increases ownership and buy-in.
5. Make it social (optional but effective). Give students the option to decide whether they want to exercise alone or with a partner/group as part of their plan.

For some teachers, fitness testing is required. For others, it’s a choice. Either way, an ipsative assessment approach makes it more meaningful for students. It replaces comparison with personal progress, so students view fitness as a journey they can improve on rather than a test they pass or fail.

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Josh