About half of participating Connecticut students met the state’s Physical Fitness Assessment standard in the 2025-2026 school year, reflecting a trend back to pre-COVID levels.
“We are encouraged by the continued improvement on the Connecticut Physical Fitness Assessment, with 2025–26 marking the fourth consecutive year of overall improvement, from 45.5% in 2021–22 to 50.4%,” in the 2025-26 school year, said Matt Cerrone, director of communications for CSDE.
This improvement in scores reflects pre-COVID numbers, which averaged around 50%.
Even so, several local education officials and physical fitness experts said they are still concerned that students are not getting adequate physical activity to improve their brain function and overall well-being.
“When it comes to fitness, we are failing,” said Rafael Perez-Escamilla, professor of public health at the Yale School of Public Health. “This is very concerning because the evidence that physical activity across the life course is extremely important, not only for physical, but for mental health, continues to build. Healthy lifestyles that include nutrition and physical activity are very important for brain function, and it includes the capacity to focus and to concentrate.”
AFT Connecticut President Jan Hochadel, who also serves as a Meriden state senator, said, “the gains reflected in the latest Connecticut Physical Fitness Assessment scores are a direct result of the tireless dedication of our physical health educators and support staff.
“While our educators have certainly earned a victory lap, what they want most is for our elected leaders to turn this milestone into meaningful action,” she said. “Let’s match their hard work with real state-level investment in the local programs and services that strengthen our students’ physical and mental health.”
This spring, as part of his push to return an annual fitness test to America’s schools, President Donald Trump revived the Presidential Physical Fitness Award.
The Presidential Fitness Test was a public-school fixture for decades but was phased out under President Barack Obama in favor of a program that minimized competition and focused on long-term health. Trump signed an order last summer to reestablish the fitness test, which was created in the 1950s. He encouraged school districts to implement the test.
The CSDE confirmed that it is not implementing the Presidential Fitness Test because of similarities between its own state assessment and the federal government’s, according to Cerrone.
Perez-Escamilla said school districts are not helping youth meet the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s physical activity guidelines, which call for school-aged youth to participate in at least 60 minutes of physical activity daily.
Graduation requirements for students include one credit for physical education. There are no set criteria requiring a certain number of minutes per day for physical activity in schools, leaving it to the district’s discretion.
Experts said the lingering effect of the pandemic, budget cuts to physical education, a lack of uniform requirements for physical education, diets and the use of technology are all factors in students’ physical activity levels. Low-income districts are also often hit harder as they do not have the same resources to provide numerous sports and extracurricular activities for students, experts said.
“You have to pull kids, give them a reason to pull away from the screens and that sedentary lifestyle and engage in something that they think is meaningful and fun,” said Ed Manfredi, executive director of the Connecticut Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. “When we look at the physical fitness test, we are not seeing a reflection of a physical education program. We’re seeing a reflection of a public health assessment of what’s happening in public health, in the neighborhoods and what’s happening outside of school.”
The Connecticut School Health Survey, a biennial survey of high school students in the state, including 2,823 students in 43 public, charter and vocational high schools, found that only 49% of high school students were physically active at least 60 minutes per day on five or more days.
Perez-Escamilla said physical education programs are one of the first on the chopping block when funding school programs, particularly in low-income communities.
“Many of the schools are under enormous pressure for their students to perform well in math and reading,” he said. “You know the assumption is the less time they do something else, the better it is going to be, and that is not true because we also know that eating healthy and being physically active improve the ability of students to learn in the classroom.”
The United States Department of Health and Human Services reported that only one in four adults and one in five adolescents meets physical activity guidelines for aerobic and muscle-strengthening activities.
Students in fourth, sixth and eighth grades are assessed annually in the physical fitness assessment, according to the CSDE. The criteria are different for high school students, with schools given flexibility to assess students at any grade, with the requirement that they assess each student within the four-year high school span, according to the CSDE.
Students who are taking the CPFA are evaluated on four components of fitness: aerobic endurance, flexibility, upper body strength and abdominal muscle strength and endurance, according to information from the CSDE.
In New Haven, Manchester, Franklin, Stamford, New London, Hartford, and Bridgeport, the percentage of students passing the state’s fitness assessment was below the state average of 50.4%.
Cornwall and Chaplain were among several districts that received the highest scores on the four components of fitness. Other high performing districts included Hartland, Essex and Orange.
Some of the districts outperforming the state included Glastonbury, Andover, Ansonia, Bloomfield, East Hartford, Danbury, Lisbon, Essex, Woodbridge, Weston, Farmington, and Simsbury. Waterbury was mainly on par with the state average, with 50.7% of students meeting the physical assessment state standard.
‘We care deeply about our students’ health
In Glastonbury, Kate Lund, the assistant superintendent, said the district improved its participation rate and its performance over the last few years on the assessment. In 2023-24 school year, 97.7% of students participated in all four assessments, with 42.2% of students meeting the state’s physical fitness standard. By comparison, in the 2025-26 school year, 68.8% met that standard, with 99% participating.
Lund said the district “prioritized the health and well-being of students and our staff as a primary goal.
“We care deeply about our students’ health, and we recognize that not all of our students are necessarily electing to engage in physical activity outside of the school day,” she said. “We are making sure that all of our students are really connected in physical education classes. We have invested a lot of time in building communities so kids are excited to be here.”
Lund said there is a high number of students who are athletes in the district. The district also implemented a requirement that students in ninth and 10th grade participate in a fitness-based warm up at the beginning of physical education classes.
Screen time affecting physical activity
Fran Rabinowitz, executive director of the Connecticut Association of School Superintendents, said she believes that students do not get enough physical exercise outside, and they are spending too much time on their phones and tablets.
She noticed in neighborhoods that students are not playing outside as often.
“Kids would run races,” she said. “They would play dodgeball in the street. There’s not a lot of unstructured physical activity. And I think that contributes to how physically fit our children are, and we should be paying attention to it.”
Escamilla said using tablets is the most prevalent activity for children as young as 3 years old.
The Connecticut School Health Survey found 77.8% of high school students spent three or more hours per day on tablets or phones.
Manfredi said research shows that children who were physically active are more likely to remain that way as adults.
He said it is integral to find opportunities for children to move.
“Physical activity in youth correlates strongest with adult health,” he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
