FITNESSGRAM
Overview
Created by HealthMPowers
WHY FITNESSGRAM?
 Combines both an educational assessment and
reporting software program
 Designed to promote lifelong physical activity
 Based on the latest research on children’s
fitness
 Health related
 Uses criterion-referenced standards
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FITNESSGRAM Advisors
 Charles L. Sterling, EdD
The Cooper Institute
FITNESSGRAM Chairman
 Charles B. Corbin, PhD
Arizona State University - Retired
 Kirk J. Cureton, PhD
University of Georgia
 Scott Going, PhD
The University of Arizona
 James R. Morrow, Jr., PhD
University of North Texas
 Robert Pangrazi, PhD
Arizona State University - Retired
 Russell R. Pate, PhD
University of South Carolina
 Sharon Ann Plowman, PhD
University of Northern Illinois - Retired
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 Judith J. Prochaska, PhD
University of California, San Francisco
 Georgi Roberts, MS
Fort Worth I.S.D., Fort Worth, Texas
 Weimo Zhu, PhD
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
 Dolly Lambdin, EdD
University of Texas at Austin
 Matthew T. Mahar, EdD
East Carolina University
 Marilu D. Meredith, EdD
The Cooper Institute
Project Director
 Gregory J. Welk, PhD
Iowa State University
Scientific Director
FITNESSGRAM Philosophy
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H
=
Health and health related fitness
E
=
Everyone
L
=
Lifetime
P
=
Personal
Georgia’s Philosophy & Goals
See DOE Information Section in training manual
Philosophy:
The acquisition of knowledge related to students' health related fitness levels is vital to
the development and implementation of strategies focused on personal health
improvement and enhanced readiness for learning.
Goals:
 To improve the health related fitness levels and therefore health outcomes of students.
 To develop students who are active now and for a lifetime.
 To develop students who are able to self assess health-related fitness levels, interpret
fitness test results, set goals, and motivate themselves for personal fitness improvement.
 To provide longitudinal data on the status of the health-related fitness of Georgia
students through systematic assessment, data collection, monitoring, and reporting.
 To use fitness assessment data to inform policy, program, curricular, and instructional
decisions for P-12 physical education at the school, district, and state levels.
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Process vs. Product
If we do the process
the product will follow!
Physical
activity is the process.
Physical
fitness is the product.
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Differences in Fitness Assessments
FITNESSGRAM
OTHERS
 Health related
 Skill related
 Norm-referenced
 Often used for grading
because of percentiles
 Award driven
 Provides scores, awards, but
no recommendations for
improvement
 Criterion-referenced
 NOT used for grading
 Personal improvement driven
 Provides individualized feedback
 Encourages self assessment or
individualized assessment
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Criterion-Referenced vs.
Norm-Referenced
 Criterion-referenced standards are associated with
good health and based on scientific information.
 Normative standards are comparisons relative to others
in a group but do not provide information on how the
values relate to health.
FITNESSGRAM is Criterion-Referenced.
The established standards for good health are called
Healthy Fitness Zone.
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Percentage of Students in
Healthy Fitness Zone
Physical Fitness Assessment
Grade 5
Grade 7
Grade 9
Aerobic Capacity
60.2%
60.5%
52.4%
Body Composition
67.4%
67.0%
68.0%
Abdominal Strength
80.6%
83.1%
82.6%
Trunk Extension Strength
88.2%
89.3%
86.3%
Upper Body Strength
67.1%
68.7%
69.5%
Flexibility
66.6%
72.4%
70.3%
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Two Components
 FITNESSGRAM
• Fitness assessment and
reporting system
 ACTIVITYGRAM
• Physical activity recall tool
• Use of ACTIVITYGRAM is up
to individual schools and
districts
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Courtesy of Human Kinetics.
FITNESSGRAM Testing Options
 Self Testing
• Student learns to test self
• Takes time to teach
• Good education; serves students for a lifetime
 Individualized Testing
• For personal information
• Can be conducted by student, or with assistance from a
partner, parent or teacher
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FITNESSGRAM Testing Options
 Institutional Testing
• Administered by a trained person
• Provides more accurate results to parents and others
• Takes time
 Personal Best Testing
• See how well interested students can perform on each
assessment
• Takes a lot of time
• Recommended use after school or voluntary
• Focus is more on performance as opposed to health
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Institutional Testing Guidelines
 Take steps to insure confidentiality of assessment
results
 Take care in interpreting results
 Take care in generalizing pre- and post-assessment
data
 Consider nutrition and other factors
 Take care in accurately reporting assessment results
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FITNESSGRAM Software
 Web-based
 Generates individual student/parent reports
 Provides suggestions about how to promote
good fitness
 Generates group reports for State reporting
 Allows for tracking of students’ fitness
throughout their school years
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Reports
Software generates:
 Individual Reports
• Comparison to HFZ
• Recommendations
 Group Reports
Courtesy of Human Kinetics.
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Appropriate Uses of FITNESSGRAM
 Facilitates fitness education
• Evaluating personal fitness levels
• Goal setting
• Program planning and tracking
 Provides feedback to students and parents
 Allows personal tracking
• Annually and over time
 Can guide PE program planning
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Inappropriate Uses of
FITNESSGRAM
 Using scores for grading
 Using scores to evaluate teacher effectiveness
 Using scores to evaluate overall physical
education program
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Confidentiality
 Confidentiality of results is important!
 Appropriate protocol must be used to ensure
proper privacy.
 Educate students on the importance of
confidentiality of fitness assessment results.
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FERPA
The parties will safeguard the confidentiality of the
student data as required by the Federal Family
Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and other
applicable laws and regulations. No release of data,
reports, information, or output of any kind based on
the data will include any information that could be
identifiable or linked to a specific person.
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FITNESSGRAM Resources
http://www.cooperinstitute.org/index.cfm
http://www.fitnessgram.net/home/
Scientific Reference Guide
http://www.doe.k12.ga.us/ci_services.aspx?PageReq=
CIServHealthPhys
Georgia Department of Education – Health and
Physical Education
http://georgiashape.org
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