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1    AN ACT concerning education.
 
2    WHEREAS, Regular physical activity is associated with a
3healthier, longer life and a lower risk of cardiovascular
4disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, and some
5cancers; and
 
6    WHEREAS, Physical activity offers young people many health
7benefits, including improved aerobic endurance and muscular
8strength, better weight control, and the opportunity to build
9lean muscle and bone mass and reduce fat; and
 
10    WHEREAS, Physically fit children have higher scholastic
11achievement, better classroom behavior, a greater ability to
12focus, and less absenteeism than their physically unfit
13counterparts; and
 
14    WHEREAS, One important way to stop this rise in childhood
15obesity is by establishing lifelong physical activity habits
16with strong physical education programs and regular physical
17activity opportunities in our nation's schools, both during and
18outside of the regular school day; and
 
19    WHEREAS, The Enhance Physical Education Task Force,
20established by Public Act 97-1102, recommended enhancing
21physical education to increase the amount of time students
22spend in moderate to vigorous physical activity, with an

 

 

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1emphasis on fitness, skill-building, and cooperation;
2therefore
 
3    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
4represented in the General Assembly:
 
5    Section 5. The School Code is amended by adding Section
627-6.5 as follows:
 
7    (105 ILCS 5/27-6.5 new)
8    Sec. 27-6.5. Physical fitness assessments in schools.
9    (a) As used in this Section, "physical fitness assessment"
10means a series of assessments to measure aerobic capacity, body
11composition, muscular strength, muscular endurance, and
12flexibility.
13    (b) To measure the effectiveness of State Goal 20 of the
14Illinois Learning Standards for Physical Development and
15Health, the State Board of Education shall require all public
16schools to use, during the 2016-2017 school year and every
17school year thereafter, a physical fitness assessment and
18report fitness information to the State Board of Education, as
19set forth in subsection (e) of this Section, to assess student
20fitness indicators.
21    Public schools shall integrate health-related fitness
22testing into the curriculum as an instructional tool, except in
23the early elementary grades. Fitness tests must be appropriate

 

 

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1to students' developmental levels and physical abilities. The
2testing must be used to teach students how to assess their
3fitness levels, set goals for improvement, and monitor progress
4in reaching their goals.
5    (c) On or before October 1, 2014, the State Superintendent
6of Education shall appoint a 15-member stakeholder and expert
7task force, including members representing organizations that
8represent physical education teachers, school officials,
9principals, health promotion and disease prevention advocates
10and experts, school health advocates and experts, and other
11experts with operational and academic expertise in the
12measurement of fitness. The task force shall make
13recommendations to the State Board of Education on the
14following:
15        (1) protocols for implementing a physical fitness
16    assessment in all public schools, including how often
17    physical fitness assessments must occur and how physical
18    fitness assessments must be conducted;
19        (2) how often physical fitness assessment data must be
20    aggregated and reported to the State Board of Education;
21    and
22        (3) how physical fitness assessment data must be
23    reported to the public, including potential correlations
24    with student academic achievement, attendance, and
25    discipline data, and recommended uses of the reported data.
26    The State Board of Education shall provide administrative

 

 

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1and other support to the task force.
2    The task force shall submit its recommendations on physical
3fitness assessments on or before April 1, 2015. The task force
4may also recommend protocols for assessing student progress on
5State Goals 19 and 21 through 24 of the Illinois Learning
6Standards for Physical Development and Health. The task force
7is dissolved on April 30, 2015.
8    The provisions of this subsection (c), other than this
9sentence, are inoperative after March 31, 2016.
10    (d) On or before October 1, 2015, the State Board of
11Education shall use the recommendations of the task force under
12subsection (c) of this Section to adopt rules for the
13implementation of physical fitness assessments by each public
14school for the 2016-2017 school year and every school year
15thereafter.
16    (e) On or before September 1, 2016, the State Board of
17Education shall, by rule, develop a system for collecting and
18reporting the aggregated fitness information from the physical
19fitness assessments. This system shall also support the
20collection of data from school districts that use a fitness
21testing software program.
22    (f) School districts may report the aggregate findings of
23physical fitness assessments by grade level and school to
24parents and members of the community through typical
25communication channels, such as Internet websites, school
26newsletters, school board reports, and presentations.

 

 

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1    (g) Nothing in this Section precludes schools from
2implementing a physical fitness assessment before the
32016-2017 school year or from implementing more robust forms of
4a physical fitness assessment.
 
5    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
6becoming law.