"This article addresses ways in which fitness tests can be used positively in physical education. The authors take the position throughout the article that fitness tests should be used as formative evaluation to further educational goals."

"Accurate measures of youth fitness are needed by researchers and practitioners. Evidence of validity and reliability are essential before results of youth fitness tests can be used to make sound decisions. This article describes a three-stage paradigm for validation research and provides guidance for conducting and understanding norm-referenced and criterion-referenced validity and reliability research. Advice is provided on how to administer fitness tests and how to use fitness test results in ways that promote reliability and validity in practice."

"The purpose of this article is to discuss relevant psychological theories that explain factors related to students' performance on fitness testing, as well as to provide instructional strategies that minimize adverse reactions to fitness testing and that maximize effort, enjoyment, and motivation. Throughout the article, we address the relationship of physical fitness testing to several psychological factors such as perceptions of competence, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, enjoyment, goal orientation, and physical activity promotion."