Fewer than half of Connecticut students passed the state’s fitness test in the 2024-25 school year, recently released state data shows.

Overall, 49% of students passed the last Connecticut Physical Fitness Assessment, the state’s annual assessment of public school students’ physical well-being, and rates remain below pre-pandemic levels.

Only seven school districts out of nearly 200 reached the state’s fitness rate target of 75% in 2024-25: Franklin, Lisbon, Woodbridge, Essex, Hartland, New Canaan and Scotland.

State education officials recently announced the 2024-25 results from the Next Generation Accountability System, which scores schools and districts based on a set of 12 indicators, including physical fitness. The data shows that more than half of Connecticut students have not met the annual health-related standard for years.

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The Connecticut Physical Fitness Assessment includes curl ups, a mile run, push ups, and a “sit and reach,” which together measure four aspects of physical fitness: muscular endurance, muscular strength, flexibility, and cardio fitness, according to the state Department of Education.

Physical fitness rates were at nearly 53% just before the pandemic, according to 2018-19 data, before falling in Connecticut to a 10-year low in the wake of the pandemic. In 2024-25, rates across the state improved to the highest level since the pandemic.

“The pandemic actually affected the health and fitness of our students, and so we’re seeing that sort of make a comeback,” said Ajit Gopalakrishnan, state Department of Education Chief Performance Officer, at a press conference last week on the Next Generation results.

Experts have said the lagging fitness rates speak to a larger inactivity and social crisis affecting schoolchildren. Many kids became less active due to the pandemic and rise of social media, and some districts have made budget cuts to extracurricular activities and sports programming. Youth obesity levels have been increasing and these trends often affect certain student groups disproportionately.

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The fitness test is administered every year to students in grades 4, 6 and 8. High schools administer the CPFA at any point in a student’s high school career.

To pass Connecticut’s physical fitness test, students must receive scores that meet or exceed the Fitness Zone Standard, which is a designated range of fitness scores associated with good health using age and gender appropriate standards. For example, a 15-year-old boy would meet the fitness zone standard if he completed at least 16 push ups in that part of the assessment, according to the standards.

The overall 49% pass rate in 2024-25 refers to the percentage of students reaching the fitness zone standard on all four areas of the assessment. The state’s fitness rate target is 75%.

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In the 2024-25 fitness test, fewer than 10 Connecticut school districts reached the state’s target of a 75% or above pass rate out of nearly 200 districts, according to the data.

Around 70 school districts were below the statewide average pass rate of 49% in 2024-25. Some districts even had fitness rates below 10% in 2024-25.

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Experts have attributed the difference in fitness rates between districts to a number of factors, including socioeconomic demographics and district budgets.

In 2024-25, 70,000 Connecticut students reached the Fitness Zone Standard, out of slightly over 140,000 students that participated in all four assessments.

This article originally published at Fewer than half of Connecticut students passed state’s physical fitness test in 2024-25; only 7 districts hit target.