For the first time, running the Presidential Fitness Test well could earn your school money. But good intentions won’t win it. Data will.
On October 1, 2026, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) launched the Presidential Fitness School Innovation Challenge, a $10 million prize competition that rewards schools and youth-serving organizations for implementing the Presidential Fitness Test (PFT), motivating students to improve their fitness, and creating positive experiences that build healthy habits. Entries are due February 5, 2027.
If you teach PE, you likely have three questions:
- Is my school eligible?
- What are judges looking for?
- What do I need to do before February?
Here are the answers, plus a month-by-month plan.
What Is the Presidential Fitness School Innovation Challenge?
The Presidential Fitness School Innovation Challenge is a federal prize competition, not a traditional grant. Organizations put the PFT into practice with students, then submit a written entry describing their approach and the results it produced.
The revived PFT measures three components of fitness: cardiovascular endurance (Beep Test or 1-mile run), upper-body strength (pull-ups or push-ups), and core strength (plank or sit-ups). The challenge itself has two tracks:
- Track 1: PFT Implementation & Innovation. $7 million in cash prizes, from $20,000 to a $1 million grand prize, for effective, sustainable, and scalable approaches. Requires an evidence-based implementation narrative.
- Track 2: PFT Participation & Equipment. $3 million in equipment redemption codes worth $1,000 to $5,000 each, for organizations administering the PFT that want equipment to keep students active. Requires a simpler, shorter submission.
Is My School Eligible for the $10 Million Fitness Challenge?
Most likely, yes. The challenge is open to individual schools, school districts, and youth-serving organizations serving K–12 students. Individual teachers can’t enter on their own, so your entry will come from your school, district, or organization. That makes your first step simple: talk to your principal or PE coordinator this week.
Who can enter:
- Public, charter, private, parochial, Tribal, alternative, and other recognized schools
- School districts and local and state educational agencies
- Nonprofit organizations
- Community-based and faith-based organizations
- Libraries, museums, and cultural institutions
- Parks and recreation programs
- Youth clubs and associations
Who can’t enter: For-profit businesses and commercial entities.
To compete, your organization must:
- Register on Fitness.gov. You’ll create an account first, and only registered organizations can access the submission portal. Registration stays open until the deadline, but registering early means you’ll get updates and reminders.
- Administer or implement the Presidential Fitness Test with students. It can be part of an existing PE, fitness, or youth program.
- Submit your written entry through the online portal by February 5, 2027, at 5 p.m. ET. For Track 1, that’s a cover page and an implementation narrative of up to 10 pages. For Track 2, it’s a cover page and a participation and equipment statement of up to 3 pages. Both must be uploaded as PDFs.
- Write separate entries if you enter both tracks. The same narrative can’t be used twice.
Already ran the PFT last spring? That’s a head start. Track 1 is built for approaches already in practice.
Before you start writing, read the official rules on Fitness.gov and register for the free informational webinar on October 27, 2026, at 2 p.m. ET. The site also offers free planning guides, scorecards, accessibility resources, goal-setting worksheets, and family communication templates.
What Do Judges Want to See?
They’re not asking schools to prove they have the fittest students in the country. Both tracks reward programs that get more students participating in the PFT and build a positive culture of fitness, but each track asks you to show it differently.
Track 1: PFT Implementation & Innovation
Track 1 is for schools and organizations that have already put a PFT approach into practice with students. Your entry is an evidence-based narrative of up to 10 pages, and it needs to show that your approach works and can grow beyond your gym. Make a convincing case for:
- Effectiveness: Evidence your approach works with students. The strongest proof is measurable growth from a baseline test to a retest, not a single day of scores.
- Lessons learned: What you tried, what worked, what didn’t, and what you changed because of it.
- Sustainability: Proof your program can keep running year after year without depending on one teacher staying late every night.
- Scalability: A clear path to replicating or expanding your approach to more students, campuses, or schools.
Where IHT helps with Track 1
| What judges want | Evidence you can pull from IHT |
| Effectiveness | Student Growth Report comparing each student to themselves across testing periods, in raw numbers and percentages |
| The “why” behind growth | IHT Spirit heart rate monitor data (optional add-on): time in target heart rate zones, MVPA minutes, and average and peak heart rate for every class between your baseline and retest |
| Lessons learned | Class and lesson-level heart rate data shows which activities actually kept students moving, so you can report what you changed and why |
| Sustainability | Results logged in real time on a tablet, laptop, or computer, with no paper to re-enter and automated roster management |
| Scalability | District Dashboard view of every school’s data in one place, plus class, school, and statewide reports, showing the approach can run anywhere |
Track 2: PFT Participation & Equipment
Track 2 is for schools and organizations that are administering the PFT and want fitness and sports equipment to keep students active. The submission is simpler, a statement of up to 3 pages, and it centers on participation and the student experience. Make a convincing case for:
- Strong participation: How you’re getting students engaged in the PFT and in physical activity.
- An encouraging testing experience: HHS’s guidance is clear that students shouldn’t be graded on their results, recognition is based on fixed age- and sex-based benchmarks rather than comparisons with classmates, and students who don’t want to test in front of others should be offered a private or small-group option.
- Inclusion for every student: Modifications that help all students participate and succeed. Adapted PE programs have a natural story to tell here.
- A plan for the equipment: How new fitness and sports equipment will support continued participation and fitness improvement after testing day.
Where IHT helps with Track 2
| What judges want | Evidence you can pull from IHT |
| Strong participation | Time in target heart rate zone: A student who can’t complete a single push-up may still spend 25 minutes of class working hard in their target zone. With IHT Spirit monitors, that effort shows up on their wrist in real time and in your reports afterward, a fair, encouraging way to recognize every student. |
| An encouraging testing experience | Grade effort, not results: Since PFT results shouldn’t drive grades, heart rate data gives you an objective, personal measure of effort to grade instead. |
| Inclusion for every student | Individual target zones: A student in adapted PE and a varsity athlete can both succeed on the same day. IHT software also supports adapted PE and custom assessments. |
| A calmer testing day | Color-coded zones on the wrist: Students can see their heart rate and zone at a glance, which helps them understand what their body is doing and supports emotional regulation for students who feel anxious about testing. |
| Families in the loop | Emailed reports after class: Students and families see what effort looked like, which makes participation a home conversation too. |
Notice what isn’t on either list: having the fittest students in the country. This challenge rewards progress. A program that helps its least-active students make real gains has a compelling story, even if few reach the Presidential benchmark.
Already an IHT School? You’re Starting Ahead
You already have the tools most entries will scramble to set up in January. Here’s how to turn them into a stronger program, and a stronger entry.
- Look back before you look forward. Pull prior years’ fitness assessment and heart rate data. Track 1 rewards approaches already in practice, and multi-year trends make a strong case for effectiveness and sustainability.
- Add the PFT to what you already run. The updated PFT measures and benchmarks are already in the software. Schedule your baseline alongside your existing assessments, with no new system to learn.
- Use heart rate data to improve your program, not just document it. Check which lessons keep students in their target zones and which don’t. Adjust between baseline and retest, then write up what you changed as your lessons learned.
- Celebrate growth, not just benchmarks. Share Student Growth Reports with students and families so every student who improves gets recognized. That’s the encouraging experience both tracks reward.
- Call your Customer Success Manager. They can help you set up PFT testing periods and pull the exact reports your entry needs.
What to Do Between Now and February 5
HHS recommends testing twice a year, 8 to 12 weeks apart, so students can see real improvement. Work backward from the deadline:
- October: Register, read the rules, get administrator buy-in, and attend the October 27 webinar.
- October through mid-November: Run your baseline PFT and record every student and event digitally.
- November through mid-January: After your baseline PFT, run your program and document what’s new, with photos where permitted.
- Mid-January: Retest under the same conditions.
- Late January: Build your entry and submit early.
Haven’t tested yet this year? Start now to leave room for the recommended gap.
The Hard Part Isn’t the Test. It’s the Data.
Running the test is familiar territory. Turning hundreds of paper scores into clear proof of growth is what this challenge actually requires.
The IHT Spirit Assessment Software was built for that job. It’s a robust platform built by PE educators for PE educators that already includes all updated Presidential Fitness Test measures and benchmarks, and it gives schools and districts a ready-to-use way to:
- Administer the updated PFT assessments with a clear plan, with hands-on setup and training from a dedicated Customer Success Manager
- Log student results in real time on a tablet, laptop, or computer, without added paperwork
- Compare performance against national norms and benchmarks for every student and school
- Track each student’s growth across testing periods and from year to year
- Generate student, class, school, district, and statewide reports whenever you need them
- Support adapted PE and custom assessments aligned with state standards or local wellness goals
- Set student goals and celebrate growth with our supporting materials and a IHT Spirit of Growth Award template
For your challenge entry, that means the hardest work is already done. The Student Growth Report compares each student to themselves over time in raw numbers and percentages, giving your Track 1 narrative clear evidence of effectiveness and real lessons learned. Growth data also lets you celebrate students who improve, not just those who hit the benchmarks, which is the kind of encouraging experience Track 2 rewards. And district-wide reporting helps you make the case for scalability.
💻 Discover why software is the best way to record fitness assessment scores.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is the deadline for the Presidential Fitness School Innovation Challenge?
February 5, 2027, at 5 p.m. ET. Winners will be announced in spring 2027.
Can schools that already use a different fitness assessment enter?
Yes, but entries require administering the Presidential Fitness Test itself. Federal officials have described the PFT as supplemental to existing fitness testing requirements, so many schools will run both.
How much money can a school win?
In Track 1, organizations with fewer than 1,000 students compete for about 100 prizes of $20,000, those with 1,000 to 10,000 students compete for about 30 prizes of $100,000, and those with more than 10,000 students compete for two $500,000 prizes and one $1 million grand prize. In Track 2, equipment redemption codes are worth $1,000 for organizations with under 500 students, $3,000 for 500 to 1,000 students, and $5,000 for more than 1,000 students.
Build a Winning Entry With IHT
The schools best positioned to win won’t necessarily have the fittest students. They’ll have the clearest data. IHT has helped schools administer fitness assessments and track student growth for over a decade, and our team can help you get testing, tracking, and reporting in place well before February.
