FitnessGram®: The Cooper Institute developed FitnessGram®, the first “student fitness report card,” in an effort to improve school physical education programs and bring awareness to children’s health. It is a health-related youth fitness assessment that utilizes evidence-based standards to measure the level of fitness needed for good overall health. Just as students should know their academic progress in the classroom, students should know their fitness levels and understand the relationship between fitness and health.
We can’t manage what we don’t measure, and we know that fitness levels decline as students get older. FitnessGram® provides students, teachers, parents and administrators the standards and awareness of fitness levels needed for good health. This information is critical to making positive, healthy changes.
The data available from FitnessGram® can:
• Track trends and changes in fitness levels over time
• Examine associations between fitness and academic achievement and attendance
• Enhance the effectiveness of physical education programs
• Help create healthy school environments focused on prevention
• Foster communication between parents, teachers and students
• Identify areas of need for program funding
Used globally for more than 30 years, FitnessGram® reaches more than 20,000 schools and 10 million students.