Physical Fitness Test FAQ

The FITNESSGRAM® is a comprehensive, health-related physical fitness battery developed by The Cooper Institute. The primary goal of the FITNESSGRAM® is to assist students in establishing lifetime habits of regular physical activity. The PFT is a requirement for students in grades 5, 7, and 9, on collecting data on various categories of Physical Fitness. The data collected determines a Healthy Zone by student, by site, and by District/LEA.

Like a performance band on assessments, it places a student based on their results in a healthy zone for their age. See a Healthy Fitness Zone chart here.

Here is a blank version of the assessment: Click Here. It is also available in the Assessment Tool itself for you to reference at any time

This particular assessment tool is for California clients only and cannot be installed into sites outside of California.

The testing window typically begins in February and ends in May.

State Assessment data typically is submitted by the end of June.

State Assessment data typically is returned the following Fall.

The tool can be used to conduct a school-wide or district wide initiative and all grades can be administered this test.

Only the grades 5, 7, and 9 would be part of the extract to the state.

No. The state requires only 1 activity to be entered within each category.

For example, in Aerobic Capacity, each student only needs results in 1 activity for successful submission:

• One-Mile Run
• 20m Pacer
• Walk-Test

While you may conduct each assessment and collect those results during the testing window, only 1 score will need to be entered for each student in each category according to the state specifications.

There are no additional permissions specifically for the California Physical Fitness Test administration. The assessment is shared and housed within Assessments, even for clients who do not use Data and Assessment. Discuss appropriate permissions with your Customer Success Manager.

Your System Admin or Assessment Admin needs to request the assessment from your Illuminate Customer Success Manager or Support. The assessment will be shared to the users who manage and share out assessments to your organization.

The various physical activities are grouped into the following categories:

• Height and Weight
• Aerobic Capacity
• Body Composition
• Abdominal Strength
• Trunk Extensor Strength
• Upper Body Strength
• Flexibility

The following September, you should receive official state assessment data. This file can be uploaded via our State/Known Data Sets tool. This will store the state's official results as a State Assessment in Assessments.

Not at this time. While it is an assessment, it is not the same type of formative assessment that displays in the Student Profile widget. In addition, it is not able to be added to the state assessment widget at this time.

No, it does not reflect on the Assessments widget and therefore is not available for viewing in the portal at this time.

The testing window is from February through May, which provides ample time to schedule the student for a makeup administration. If a student truly has not been administered the assessment, there should be no administration date or scores for any categories.

This will prevent them from being included in the extract.

Teachers can enter scores by Class Roster or by Student. You can learn more in Enter, Edit, & Manage PFT Student Responses.

You can use your mouse to click and enter scores as appropriate or your keyboard to quickly tab to navigate left and right.

You cannot use the arrow keys. Some fields have multi-select criteria so arrows won’t work with that.

Scanning is not available for entering or recording student results.

Before submission, each student needs to be reviewed. In EACH category, the student must have a score for one of the activities. The student's best scores will automatically be submitted to the state and no scores need to be deleted prior to submission.

No, only whole values within the expected range should be entered.

Your System Admin or Assessment Admin needs to request the reports from your Illuminate Customer Success Manager or Support. The reports will then be shared to the users who manage and share out reports to your organization.

Yes! The moment the results are saved, the assessment reports reflect the assessment data.

You bet! Actually, prebuilt reports and PFT measures are following age guidelines, not grade levels. The reports will display data according to guidelines as young as age 10.

You can visit PFT Standards for more details.

Yes! The assessment results are available for custom reports, similar to how assessment data is stored and made available.

When adding columns, choose the following:

• Type: State Assessments
• Categories: “PFT 20XX-20XX Illuminate Reporting”
• Columns: Pretty much everything, too much to list.

Learn more at PFT Data Review (Reports).

If they have imported PFT State Assessment results, the metadata should have been installed automatically, similar to other state assessments.

If not, you will need to install the meta-data:

• “PFT [academic year] Illuminate Reporting”

Then make sure to share the data as appropriate to the System Admin.

Learn more at PFT Data Review (Reports).

The PFT Admin will also need the Reports permission “Generate State Reporting Data Extracts” in order to generate the results file to submit to the state.  Visit Add or Edit Permissions for guidance.

1. Great question! First, get the teachers to administer the test.
2. Then, those with permission can review, validate, and create the state-required file.
3. The file can be submitted to the state with just a few clicks within Illuminate!

Learn more in Physical Fitness Test (PFT) Data Extract .

Absolutely! Illuminate can be used on your device's browser by simply typing in the web address and accessing your account.

It is best practice to filter by category and student when using a smart device.

You can visit our System Requirements Updates here.