In a, generally, overweight society the faculty and staff at Blue Ridge Elementary put together a family fitness night to discuss ways to exercise with your child and help both, parents and children, to get in shape to lead healthier lives. The school uses a program called the FITNESSGRAM. This is a national fitness assessment and reporting program for youth. The assessment was developed by The Copper Institute in efforts to increase the physical education programs and a comprehensive assessment protocol. The assessment includes a variety of health related physical fitness assessments designed to assess cardiovascular fitness, muscle strength, muscular endurance, flexibility and body composition. This program has replaced the Presidential Physical Fitness Program that was in place in the schools up until a couple years ago.

Standards for children and youth have been set by criterion referenced standards associated with good health for various components of the assessment. The software program produces an individualized report card that summarizes the child’s performance on each component of health related fitness and provides suggestions for how to promote and maintain good fitness. The database is sophisticated in structure within the program and produces compiled class reports and allows for long term tracking of the students’ fitness over time. The program can be used by students to help them in personal fitness programming by teachers to determine student needs and to help guide students in program planning and by parents to understand a child’s needs and to help them plan a program of physical activity.

Goals of the FITNESSGRAM are to promote enjoyable regular physical activity and to provide comprehensive physical fitness and activity assessments and reporting programs for children and youth. The program seeks to develop affective, cognitive and behavioral components related to participation in regular physical activity in all children and youth, regardless of gender, age, disability or any other factor. BRES staff believes that regular physical activity contributes to good health, function and well-being and is important throughout a person’s lifetime. The use of FITNESSGRAM as a part of quality physical education program can help in accomplishing these goals.

Areas of the assessments will include the pacer or run mile run, body composition (height and weight analysis), and flexibility which will be a back saver sit and reach exercise, curl up and push up.

Hopefully, with the help of the FITNESSGRAM and proactive parents, the obesity rate in America will decrease and we will see a healthier future for America.