Required Physical Fitness Assessment
November 28, 2017
TO THE ADMINISTRATOR ADDRESSED:
Subject: Required Physical Fitness Assessment
The Texas Education Code, Sections 38.101 and 38.103, requires that the fitness levels of all public school students in grades 3–12 and enrolled in a physical education course or any physical education substitute course or activity be assessed at least once annually. In 2007–2008, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) identified FitnessGram® as the assessment tool to be used by all school districts. School districts and open-enrollment charter schools are required to submit the results of the physical fitness assessment to the TEA each school year through FitnessGram or the Physical Fitness Assessment Initiative (PFAI) application.
TEA has entered into a contract with US Games and The Cooper Institute to provide a statewide license for FitnessGram software at no cost to schools for the 2017–2018 and 2018–2019 school years. Districts and charter schools that elect to use FitnessGram are required to register with US Games. The campus site license provides software access, information regarding updates to FitnessGram and FitnessGram media and training videos. Before accessing the system and entering data, the student information system (SIS) vendor extract must be approved by the FitnessGram Help Desk.
Please visit https://help.fitnessgram.net/fitnessgram-states/texas for instructions and registration information.
Districts that elect not to report the assessment data results via FitnessGram must upload the data via TEA’s PFAI application. To access PFAI to upload assessment results, districts are required to login through a Texas Education Agency Login (TEAL) account. A TEAL account may be set up a through the TEAL gateway with a user name and password. Instructions for this process can be found at https://tea.texas.gov/Texas_Schools/Safe_and_Healthy_Schools/Physical_Fitness_Assessment_Initiative/ under the heading, Using the PFAI Application in TEAL.
The FitnessGram and PFAI systems will open on November 28, 2017, for the 2017–2018 school year. All fitness data submitted via FitnessGram or the PFAI application for the 2017–2018 school year must be submitted on or before 5:00 pm (CDT) on June 8, 2018.
Questions related to FitnessGram and the campus site license should be directed to US Games by telephone at 1-800-327-0484 (ext. 47313) or by email at fitnessgram@usgames.com. For technical assistance questions, please call 1 (800) 416-5139 or visit https://myhealthyzone.fitnessgram.net/contactus.
Questions related to the PFAI application may be directed to TEA by telephone at (512) 463-9581 or by email at pfaiprogramsupport@tea.texas.gov.
Aggregate physical fitness assessment data from previous school years are available at https://tea.texas.gov/Texas_Schools/Safe_and_Healthy_Schools/Physical_Fitness_Assessment_Initiative/Fitness_Data.
Sincerely,
Monica Martinez
Associate Commissioner
Standards and Support Services
MM/bf