2 Samo-Malibu Schools Below State Average in Fitness Test

Four out of 10 fifth-grade students at Will Rogers Elementary in Santa Monica were overweight last school year, according to test results released this week by the state Department of Education.

Also in Santa Monica, John Muir Elementary students were behind Will Rogers, with 3.4 of every 10 fifth-grade students in the state's overweight zone.

Statewide, one out of three fifth-graders who took the physical fitness test were placed in the "needs improvement" category for the body composition portion of the assessment. 

The annual test measures physical fitness in six categories: aerobic capacity, body composition, abdominal strength, trunk extensor strength, upper body strength and flexibility. 

Twenty six percent of the state's fifth-graders, 32 percent of seventh-graders and 37 percent of ninth-graders scored in the "Healthy Fitness Zone" for all six areas, according to a press release from the California Department of Education.

In the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, 47 percent of fifth-graders, 43 percent of seventh-graders and 50 percent of ninth-graders scored in the "Healthy Fitness Zone" for all six areas.