Revitalizing the US Youth Presidential Fitness Test: Are States Prepared to Support Implementation?

Our objective was to describe policy infrastructure of elementary school fitness testing at the state level and to assess states' readiness for implementation of the recently reinstated Presidential Fitness Test. We conducted a cross-sectional policy analysis by using data from the State of the States Policy Report and used the Classification of Laws Associated with School Students to create a standardized readiness index. Only 5 states required recommended weekly minutes of physical education, 24 had no fitness testing requirements, 6 mandated testing results reporting, and most delegated compliance monitoring locally. State policies are not positioned to support large-scale standardized fitness testing, indicating a need for coordinated reform.