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Trump restores Presidential Fitness Test award for schools

politicsMay 5, 2026181,067

On May 5, 2026 President Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum restoring the Presidential Fitness Test Award for schoolchildren. The action revives the Cold War-era, competitive award that recognizes students WHO meet age-graded physical standards on school fitness tests and reverses Obama-era changes. The White House framed the proclamation as an effort to expand physical activity and standardized fitness benchmarks in K-12 physical education, meaning schools could reintroduce award-based testing and reporting. This matters because it returns a national, measurable fitness metric to school programs and could reshape how districts evaluate and incentivize student fitness.

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