Overview
The Connecticut Physical Fitness Assessment (CPFA) is Connecticut’s annual assessment of public school students’ physical well-being. Students in Grades 4, 6, and 8 are assessed annually. At the high school level, schools have the flexibility to assess students at any grade, but must assess each student at some point between Grades 9 and 12.
The goals of the assessment program are to:
- inform schools, districts and the public about programs focusing on fitness and physical activity in our schools and evaluate their success
Students taking the CPFA are evaluated using age and gender appropriate standards in four components fitness. The components assessed include:
- aerobic endurance;
- flexibility;
- upper body strength and endurance, and
- abdominal muscle strength and endurance.
In 2018, the Connecticut State Department of Education revised the CPFA manual to reflect new administration flexibility and other topics. On September 14, 2018, Chief Performance Office Ajit Gopalakrishnan sent a communication to Connecticut Superintendents to release this revise resource.
In September 2019, the CSDE revised the manual once again to reflect improved processes. These revisions are articulated in Appendix H.
Connecticut Physical Fitness Assessment – Test Administrator's Manual (Revised September 2019)
Test Manual Attachments (for the Test Administrator's Manual)
Connecticut Physical Fitness Assessment Results are available on the Department's data dissemination website – EdSight. General results are in the Performance section of the site. The assessment results are also included in the Next Generation Accountability reports and the Profile and Performance reports, also available on EdSight.
For information on Physical Education instruction, please see the Department’s Physical Education page.