1. Created by HealthMPowers
FITNESSGRAM Overview
Created by HealthMPowers

2. 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
FITNESSGRAM was selected as the assessment for Georgia for a number of reasons. A state-wide advisory committee of fitness and education experts were convened following the passing of HB 229 and worked for a year to make recommendations to the Board of Education.

3. 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
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
This group provides scientific input and direction for program administrators. Many of the advisors have been involved with the FITNESSGRAM program for more than 15 years. Dr. Kirk Cureton is our resident expert here in Georgia. He is at the U of GA.

4. FITNESSGRAM Philosophy
H = Health and health related fitness
E = Everyone
L = Lifetime
P = Personal
H = Health and health related-fitness
The primary goal of both programs is to promote regular physical activity among all
youth. Of particular importance is promoting activity patterns that lead to reduced
health risk and improved health-related physical fitness.
• E = Everyone
FITNESSGRAM is designed for all people regardless of their physical ability. It is intended to help ALL youth find some form of activity that they can do for a lifetime. Too often activity programs are perceived to be only for those who are “good” or athletic rather than for all people.
• L = Lifetime
FITNESSGRAM has as a goal helping young people to be active now, but a long term goal is to help them learn to do activities that they will continue to perform throughout their lives.
• P = Personal
No two people are exactly alike. No two people enjoy the exact same activities.
FITNESSGRAM is designed to personalize physical activity to meet personal or individual needs.

5. 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.

6. If we do the process the product will follow!
Process vs. Product
If we do the process the product will follow!
Physical activity is the process.
Physical fitness is the product.

7. Differences in Fitness Assessments
FITNESSGRAM
OTHERS
Skill related
Norm-referenced
Often used for grading because of percentiles
Award driven
Provides scores, awards, but no recommendations for improvement
Health related
Criterion-referenced
NOT used for grading
Personal improvement driven
Provides individualized feedback
Encourages self assessment or individualized assessment

8. 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.
There are several types of standards commonly used with fitness assessments. FITNESSGRAM uses criterion-referenced health standards or standards associated with good health. Scientific information is used to determine the amount of fitness needed to meet minimum health levels.
FITNESSGRAM uses a “Healthy Fitness Zone” to designate the range of fitness scores associated with good health. Scores falling below the “Healthy Fitness Zone” are categorized as “Needs Improvement” to indicate that efforts are needed to bring the score into the Healthy
Fitness Zone. The Healthy Fitness Zone are criterion-referenced health standards because they are based on how much fitness a child needs for good health. Normative standards (e.g., percentiles) provide comparisons relative to other youth in a group but do not provide information concerning how the values relate to health.
Normative standards
The advantages are that students can learn how they compare with other children and youth in the
well-defined group (e.g., their age, gender, school, etc.). Percentiles are also easy to interpret,
as they are used in most national standardized tests. The primary disadvantage is that the
standards are based on the children and adolescents’ current level of performance rather than
the level they ought to achieve. Consider whether it is “good” for one to achieve “average”
fatness if the average person has a level of fat that is unhealthy or puts the individual at risk.
Another disadvantage is that percentiles, particularly ones set at a high level, might discourage
students whose fitness levels are moderate or low, as measured by the test, even though the
fitness levels of those students may be adequate when viewed in another context such as health
or some specific sports performance.
Criterion Referenced
Standards where health status is used as the criterion. With criterion-referenced
evaluations, a standard on a field test is determined which is related to a specific health
outcome (i.e., the criterion). With fitness assessments, the criterion is often some sort of health
outcome (e.g., heart disease, body fatness, low back pain, etc.).
With criterion-referenced evaluation, the most important interpretation of a fitness assessment
score is the information about the student's health status. Use the 1-Mile Run Assessment as an
example. If an adolescent girl runs the mile in 9 minutes, what does this mean in terms of her
health status? The 1-Mile Run Assessmebt is used to measure aerobic capacity. Does her performance
put her at a low, medium, or high level of risk for cardiac disease? While the precise answer to
this question is unknown, there is evidence from adult populations substantiating that people
with higher levels of aerobic capacity have a lower risk of cardiac disease.

9. 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%
These results reveal that the majority of children can pass most of the health related
fitness assessments. There also does not appear to be any systematic trend toward lower
passing rates across the three grades. The large difference in passing rates on the aerobic
assessment between grades 7 and 9 may indicate lower fitness levels for 9th graders but this
would need further confirmation from other studies. The California Department of Education
has tended to present a more negative view of the same data in their evaluation of the results.
They tend to emphasize the small percentage of children that could pass all five fitness assessments.
The assumption is that a child could only be considered “fit” if they could pass all five assessments at
the criterion level. While this is certainly a good goal, the specific and multidimensional nature
of fitness makes it difficult for children (or adults) to excel in all aspects of fitness.

10. Courtesy of Human Kinetics.
Two Components
FITNESSGRAM
Fitness assessment and reporting system
ACTIVITYGRAM
Physical activity recall tool
Use of ACTIVITYGRAM is up to individual schools and districts
There are two parts to the FITNESSGRAM Educational Program
FITNESSGRAM is a comprehensive physical fitness assessment and reporting program
ACTIVITY GRAM is a detailed 3 day physical activity assessment program
While you will have access to both programs the use of ACTIVITYGRAM is up to individual schools and districts.
Courtesy of Human Kinetics.

11. 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
Self-Testing and Assessment
Personal fitness self-testing is considered to be the principal use for FITNESSGRAM assessment
items. Students are taught to evaluate themselves and interpret their assessment results. If this
objective is met, students can assess themselves and plan personal programs throughout life. It
takes a considerable amount of practice to self-test effectively so multiple opportunities to
practice are necessary. It is also important to help students interpret the results. Students who
fail to reach the healthy fitness zone (HFZ) should be assisted in developing a program of
improvement. Students who reach the HFZ should be taught how to determine goals for
fitness within the zone and how to maintain that level of fitness.
In this type of assessment students evaluate themselves so special teams of fitness testers are not
necessary. Assessment results for beginning self-testers may not be particularly accurate but, with
practice, self-testing skills improve and become more useful in program planning. Self-testing
results are considered personal and should generally be kept private if a student desires. An
exception, is when FITNESSGRAM reports are printed and used to report results to parents
and teachers. If self-testing results are reported to parents, especially by beginning self-testers,
parents should be aware that the results may be less accurate than results of more formal
testing.
Individualized Assessment
Individualized Assessment refers to testing done with the principal goal of providing personal
information to individual students. Self-testing as described in the previous paragraph is a form
of individualized assessment. Individualized assessment could, however, be done with the assistance of
others such as a partner, parent, or teacher. Assessment results are used for personal feedback and to
provide feedback to parents. The results of individualized assessment can be used to help students
and parents plan personal activity programs and track progress over time.

12. 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
Institutional Testing
Institutional Testing is done to help teachers and others determine the fitness level of groups of students and may provide direction for curriculum and program planning. Reports to parents may also be prepared using institutional testing data. This type of testing takes teams of people trained to correctly administer the test. This type of testing takes a considerable amount of class time. Care should be taken when interpreting data obtained from this type of testing. The FITNESSGRAM advisors discourage the use of FITNESSGRAM for determining student grades, long-term student achievement, and/or teacher success.
Personal Best Testing
Personal Best Testing is for students who want to see how well they can perform on each fitness test item. Because such testing takes considerable time and because all children and youth may not be interested in this type of testing, it is recommended that this type of testing be done before or after school on a voluntary basis. The FITNESSGRAM philosophy focuses on good health and high levels of fitness are not necessary for good health. Some youth, however, may be interested in achieving high levels of fitness to achieve performance goals and teachers may wish to provide the opportunity for personal best testing.

13. 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
Institutional Assessment
• Take steps to insure confidentiality of assessment procedures and assessment results (see
performing institutional assessment the following guidelines should be considered.
The benefits of appropriate Institutional Assessment are outlined in Table 1. When
previous section).
level of student learning in a class or in a school. In addition to factors that
among schools are often due to factors other than the quality of teaching and the
• Take care in interpreting results. Group score differences among classes and
typically are less active and score lower on fitness assessments than those of higher
concentrations of minority students or students from low socioeconomic areas
have been discussed previously, it is known that classes or schools with high
socioeconomic levels (Crespo, 2005; Lee et al., 2006). Also these groups have a higher risk of overweight/obesity and low fitness than others. Motivational
comparisons should be made with great caution.
teacher), play a role in determining fitness assessment scores. Interclass and interschool
levels associated with a variety of factors (often beyond the control of the
school year because youth are ¾ of a year older. Older students do better on
be higher at the end of the school year than they are at the beginning of the
• Take care in generalizing from pre to post assessment data. Fitness scores will typically
fitness assessments than younger students (Pangrazi & Corbin, 1990).
obese has increased in recent years. This is, no doubt, because lifestyles (eating
results (Lee & Wechsler, 2006). The number of youth who are overweight or
• Consider nutrition and other factors when generalizing about body composition
and activity patterns) have a major impact on body composition even in youth
are complex. Physical education can help with the problem. However physical
behaviors and solving problems associated with youth overweight and obesity
(Lee & Wechsler, 2006). Overweight and obesity are associated with many
activity and other learning in physical education are only two of many factors
• Reports indicating the proportion of youth who meet health standards are more
problem (Lee & Wechsler, 2006; Lohman, Going, & Metcalfe, 2004).
that should be considered when preparing a comprehensive plan to solve the
students that fail to meet minimum health standards may help in curriculum
percentile scores for students, classes or schools. Knowing the proportion of
meaningful than reports containing mean scores for individual assessments or
development and guide teachers and parents in helping more students achieve
schools, parents, communities, physicians) have the opportunity to work
adequate time is provided for change and when multiple entities (teachers,
health standards. Meeting minimum standards is a reasonable goal when
of little value in this effort.
be considered when making curriculum plans. Mean scores and percentiles are
together. Factors other than physical activity (as described previously) should
• Care should be taken to accurately report institutional assessment results. Evidence
Leuker, 2000; Kohn, 2001, Sloane & Kelly, 2003). Care should be taken to
curriculum when “high stakes” are associated with assessment results (Harrington-
exists to indicate instances of incorrect reporting of data in other areas of the
less appropriate reasons (see earlier section). If “high stakes” are not associated
students, their families, and by teachers in curriculum development rather than
assure teachers and students that scores on assessments are for personal use by
with the assessment, results are more likely to be reported accurately. It is also
• Care should be taken to avoid overgeneralizations concerning the meaning of assessment
administration if results are to be accurate.
important that teachers receive in-service education in correct test
scores. Schools should rightly be concerned about issues related to youth fitness,
“….some physical educators, and others who would like to see more physical higher risk of overweight/obesity and low fitness than others. Motivational
that physical education can be helpful. However, as Ernst, et al. (2006) note:
physical activity, and health (including youth overweight and obesity) and it is true
important that teachers receive in-service education in correct assessment
“….some physical educators, and others who would like to see more physical

14. 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
The FITNESSGRAM software provides individualized report cards that summarize the
child’s performance on each component of health-related fitness and provides suggestions
about how to promote and maintain good fitness. The program also includes a data
management system that produces summary reports for groups, aids in management of group
data, and allows for long term tracking of the student’s fitness throughout their school years.
FITNESSGRAM can be used by students to help them in personal fitness program
planning, by teachers to determine student needs and to help guide students in program
planning. The reports are most effectively used if they are distributed to parents to help
communicate their child’s fitness needs and to assist in planning an appropriate program of
physical activity.

15. Courtesy of Human Kinetics.
Reports
Software generates:
Individual Reports
Comparison to HFZ
Recommendations
Group Reports
The FITNESSGRAM report prints out an individualized report that evaluates a child’s personal level of fitness compared against the established health standard, the Healthy Fitness Zone. Students can take these home to parents.
Courtesy of Human Kinetics.

16. 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
Facilitating Fitness Education: The Primary Use of FITNESSGRAM
The mission statement, as well as the program philosophy, clearly outlines education with a
focus on lifelong physical activity promotion as the primary goal of FITNESSGRAM. The
majority of the benefits listed in the preceding table are educational. For this reason the
educational value of the program should be central in using FITNESSGRAM assessments and related
program materials.
Providing Feedback:
As noted in the table, reporting can be an important benefit of using FITNESSGRAM. Reports
provide ratings of fitness based on health criteria, feedback to help interpret results, and
information that is useful in planning programs for improvement of fitness through regularphysical activity. Teachers may include student reports as part of student physical education
portfolios along with other information related to important physical education objectives.
Individual reports can be used to aid students achieve the benefits described in the preceding
table. Reports may also be sent to parents. If this is done it is recommended that school
officials meet with parents to help them interpret assessment results. Parents should be encouraged to
use FITNESSGRAM messages to help students plan personal physical activity programs that
are suited to each child’s personal needs.
Allowing Personal Tracking
Personal Tracking is another way of using FITNESSGRAM. Student assessment results are plotted on
a regular basis to see if children retain their fitness status over time. The goal is to help all
youth to score in the HFZ (consistent with personal goals) on all parts of fitness over time.
When dramatic changes in personal performance occur, tracking helps the student, teacher, and
parent identify reasons for changes. Self-assessment results and/or institutional assessment results can
be used for tracking changes over time (see the FITNESSGRAM Test Administration Manual).

17. Inappropriate Uses of FITNESSGRAM
Using scores for grading
Using scores to evaluate teacher effectiveness
Using scores to evaluate overall physical education program

18. 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.
Appropriate protocol must be used to assure proper privacy as possible (e.g., separation
of assessment stations, screens to avoid observation of measurements—especially body
composition measures) and to educate students concerning the confidentiality of the
results of others. When partners or groups are used in assessing it should be understood
that assessment results revealed to a partner or observed by others in the group (e.g., PACER)
are confidential.”

19. 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.

20. FITNESSGRAM Resources
Scientific Reference Guide
Georgia Department of Education – Health and Physical Education