Fact check: Post claiming U.S. school districts banned FitnessGram PACER test is satire

Dezimey Kum, USA TODAY
·3 min read

The claim: The PACER fitness test was banned for child cruelty

Fitness tests are often used in schools to measure students' cardiovascular and muscular health, and many districts rely on an assessment system called the FitnessGram to conduct those tests.

But one article circulating on Facebook claims the PACER Test – the FitnessGram's assessment of aerobic capacity – has been banned. PACER stands for Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run.

A June 10 Facebook post shows a screenshot of a purported news article with the headline “Pacer Test banned for child cruelty.” The image includes text that reads, “I want compensation for my suffering.”

The post accumulated more than 100 shares and 400 reactions within three days. Similar claims have circulated online since at least 2016.

However, the PACER test has not been banned.

The claim originated from a satirical website, Neomongolia News Network. USA TODAY found no evidence that the PACER test has been banned because of child cruelty in any school district.

USA TODAY reached out to the Facebook user who shared the claim for comment.

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PACER test is not banned

The PACER test is still common in the U.S. There is no evidence that school districts have stopped using the test because it was cruel to children.

The Cooper Institute, which created the test, describes it as a "multistage aerobic capacity test" used to measure students' aerobic capacity.

"For nearly three decades, the Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run (PACER) Test has been used as part of the FitnessGram assessment in thousands of P.E. classes in all 50 states," the Cooper Institute says on its website.

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Headline is from satirical website

The headline pictured in the post is from an article that appeared on a satirical website, Neomongolia News Network.

The article on the website refers to a fictional location, "Neomongolia," a fake president named "Chinkus" and an imaginary currency, "Neomongolian dollars."

The website's "About Us" page is consistent with its sarcastic, fictional content. It says the Neomongolia News Network was "founded by some old man in 1956, following this, it became the main news source of the nation’s people. I was paid 3,000 dollars to write this give me my money.”

The site features an array of satire and made-up news stories.

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Our rating: Satire

Based on our research, we rate SATIRE the claim that the PACER fitness test was banned for child cruelty. The claim originated from a satirical article. There is no evidence the PACER test was banned because of cruelty in any school district.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: No, the childhood PACER test was not banned for cruelty