HRM in High School PE class

mmabry72 · February 2015

Does anyone have experience with HRM in High School PE classes? Any PE teachers?
My Freshman Daughter who is a straight A student, number 8 on her AA state champion cross country team and third leg on her 4x800 track team is getting a B moving towards a C in PE because she can't keep her HR in her target zone of 135. We have been monitoring her grades and when we first saw the dip in PE we where like "you must be goofing off, screwing around or something. Get your act together Missy!" Turns out she is not, all or most of the athletes are in the same boat. We have contacted the teacher and he responded with basically a form letter saying 5 points for participation and 5 for HR per day. ONe day she scored the most laps in class and still got a B for the day because she can't keep her HR up. As a matter of fact on the last few laps her HR started going down! How can a perfectly healthy, active smart young lady (and all other athletes) get penalized over a simplistic and apparently wrong view of what health is?
Any ideas or thoughts on the matter.

uconnwinsnc1 · February 2015

She can always just lie about her heartrate. When I was in high school, about 80% of what I did was a lie.

alysme · February 2015

Huh? That's insane.
How are they measuring her heartrate? Why does it have to be 135 and above? Mine fluctuates throughout a gym class.

mochapygmy · February 2015

I'm certainly no expert but I believe it's because she is an athlete. Meaning her heart rate is normally lower than someone who is inactive because her heart is healthier.

Or perhaps the hrm is faulty or she is wearing it wrong?

I'm curious what others have to say and I think it's time to speak to the teacher or principal because this seems crazy.

AmyRhubarb · February 2015

I think I'd go over the PE teacher's head and take my case to an administrator - that's ridiculous to grade on heart rate! I've never heard of such a thing! What on earth is he trying to "teach" by grading this way and with this focus?

How stupid to have her GPA pulled down because of a low grade over heart rate!

Edited to add: Maybe a face to face meeting with the teacher is in order before going to the higher ups - we had a similar problem with my daughter's PE teacher. She has independent PE, same as last year, because she has a full academic schedule and it doesn't fit into her day to take it during school hours. A new teacher took over the program this year and upped the demands - he seems to fail to understand that a kid taking independent PE because they have a full academic schedule doesn't have time for more PE since they have so many other class demands, before and after school. Emails to the teacher didn't help, but a face to face meeting in his office did the trick for us. Had it not, we would have gone to the principal, because like your daughter, ours was risking a lower GPA due to not having enough time to complete extra PE work. Lame!

jhc7324 · February 2015

I'd clarify what the point of the HRM is with the gym teacher. If the gym teacher is using the HRM as a means of identifying who is "working hard" in class, then you might want to point out that it would be a good idea to compare the class HR info against some kind of baseline for each student. It sounds like the way this is being measured is always going to result in the kids with good cardio conditioning getting poor marks compared to the kids who sit around and do nothing but watch TV all day simply because their resting HR is much lower.

pjcfrancis · February 2015

In the jurisdiction where I teach, by law the teachers can only give grades for the defined learning outcomes. You can't mark for something that's not part of the curriculum. So I'd ask the PE teacher where in the state/provincial curriculum it says one of the learning outcomes is keeping your heart rate up.

mmabry72 · February 2015

Thanks for the input so far. We have had several e-mails this past week. The next step is a face to face. But we need more information before going in.
They apparently wear the HRM's during class and there is a monitor that shows each students HR through out the class. She took a test and got put into the group of students with a 135 HR but that didn't help much. The higher rate group is 140?
THis just started a few years ago in our school in Illinois. From what I hear it is moving across the country as THE way to do PE.

jhc7324 · February 2015

mmabry72 wrote: »

Thanks for the input so far. We have had several e-mails this past week. The next step is a face to face. But we need more information before going in.
They apparently wear the HRM's during class and there is a monitor that shows each students HR through out the class. She took a test and got put into the group of students with a 135 HR but that didn't help much. The higher rate group is 140?
THis just started a few years ago in our school in Illinois. From what I hear it is moving across the country as THE way to do PE.

I would almost expect to have a frustrating time dealing with this, as it sounds like a bureaucratic "policy" and those are hard to change, even if the policy doesn't make any sense.

Does your school factor phys ed grades into GPA? Some don't, and if that's the case, I probably wouldn't worry about it. Just make sure your daughter realizes that the grade is a part of a school policy, and even though it doesn't make sense, that policy says she gets a B in gym.

mmabry72 · February 2015

Yes I am sure the PE grade is factored in but I will be double check on this. Thanks for the thought.

Valrotha · February 2015

Sounds like a government run institution to a tee: set up some metric (ANY metric) and follow it to the point of absurdity. Then, when someone asks, 'why are you doing that?,' you can just point at the numbers and act like that's an intelligent answer.

brightresolve · February 2015

This is definitely because her cardio conditioning is so good, that she'd have to work not only HARDER but far longer to elevate her heart rate. A well-conditioned person's heart rate also drops far faster once exercise is concluded, while a deconditioned person's stays higher for longer - so if she has to wait in a line for her final (not average) HRM number to be recorded, that's also a factor.

At her level of fitness, a PE class is unlikely to raise her heart rate to the "desired" level. When I was marathon training, I could run two miles breathing only through my nose before my HR cracked 135 - although I was in my forties (lower max HR).

Perhaps her cross country coach could be engaged to meet with you and the PE teacher? Fitness is one area where one size does not fit all. If the teacher wants to ensure she is doing strenuous workouts, her participation in athletics could become a substitute? Keep taking this one higher, the goal of the HRM is encourage fitness and your daughter has it. Penalizing her is insane.

mmabry72 · February 2015

We got a little more info from the teacher. I think we can avoid a conference if things keep going how they are now.
Basically the students test into two zones, a high and low zone. And Then have to keep in that zone for 70% of the class. In my daughters case that is a HR of 135 or 14 or 17 minutes (I can't remember). The problem is this is everyday no matter the activity. If there are actives where there is a lot of standing around (volley ball) she fails. So now she is jumping in place, constantly moving. I suggested she just go run laps the whole class but then she wouldn't get her participation grade so she would still get an F. Sounds like the teacher is starting to get it and this week has not taken HR grades on slower days and my daughter is back to getting A's in the class.
PE is not supposed to be this difficult. Back in the day if we dressed we passed. But those where the crazy 80's

starseedxo · February 2015

I hate the way high school PE works. The year I was an All Conference swimmer, I got a "C" in our swimming class because my stroke was "too competitive".

Azdak · February 2015

mmabry72 wrote: »

We got a little more info from the teacher. I think we can avoid a conference if things keep going how they are now.
Basically the students test into two zones, a high and low zone. And Then have to keep in that zone for 70% of the class. In my daughters case that is a HR of 135 or 14 or 17 minutes (I can't remember). The problem is this is everyday no matter the activity. If there are actives where there is a lot of standing around (volley ball) she fails. So now she is jumping in place, constantly moving. I suggested she just go run laps the whole class but then she wouldn't get her participation grade so she would still get an F. Sounds like the teacher is starting to get it and this week has not taken HR grades on slower days and my daughter is back to getting A's in the class.
PE is not supposed to be this difficult. Back in the day if we dressed we passed. But those where the crazy 80's

As in many things, it's an example of good intentions perhaps being derailed by bureaucratic application. Likely your school is trying to follow program principles that were developed in Naperville SD 203 in the late 1990s -- they were one of the first in the country to incorporate HRMs to monitor exercise intensity in PE classes. The idea was to improve the focus of PE classes and make kids aware of effective exercise strategies.

The problems are twofold: 1) heart rate variability--all of these guidelines are based on the assumption that all kids have the same resting and maximum heart rates. 2) a gifted or more highly-trained aerobic athlete will possibly find it very difficult to elevate heart rate during lower-intensity exercises or activities. Volleyball would certainly fall into that category. It seems somewhat absurd that she has to jump around to keep HR elevated.

HRM in High School PE class

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