The President's Challenge is a program of the Presidential Council on
Physical Fitness and Sports which began in 1966 with the
implementation of the Presidential Physical Fitness Awards. The
standards for the President's Challenge test battery are based on
data from the 1985 School Population Fitness Survey conducted for the
PCPFS by the University of Michigan Institute for Social
Research.
Virginia public schools test and record scores of all students in
grades four through ten twice each year, in the fall and spring.
Students who enroll in physical education in eleventh and twelth
grades are also tested. To prepare students for the following year,
third graders are often tested.
The PPFA consists of a blue embroidered Presidential emblem and a
certificate signed by the President of the United States. Students
who score at or above the 85th percentile on all five fitness tests
on the spring tests will receive their emblem and certificate during
the awards assembly.
The NPFA recognizes a basic yet challenging level of physical
fitness. Boys and girls scoring at or above the 50th percentile on
all five fitness tests. Margaret Beeks students who meet this
standard on the spring tests will receive a red embroidered emblem
during the awards assembly.
Students who qualify for either Presidential or National Physical
Fitness Awards in Fall are placed on the Wall of Fame, which is
located in the school's multi-purpose room.
Montgomery County students must provide the physical education
teacher with a signed doctor's note that specifies which tests the
student cannot perform due to illness or injury.
The five fitness tests contist of curl-up,
shuttle run, mile
run, pull-up (flexed-arm hang), and
v-sit/sit and reach.