| As part of an ongoing effort to improve physical fitness and combat obesity in New York State, the Broome County Health Department is working with local schools to promote healthy eating and lifelong physical activity in children. This study estimates the baseline level of physical fitness among children in the first Broome County school to implement FitnessGram, a school fitness assessment package, using recently collected test scores. To determine whether or not children are physically fit in the domains of cardiovascular, abdominal and upper body strength and endurance, flexibility, and body composition, this analysis uses the criterion-referenced standards of the FitnessGram Healthy Fitness Zone ( HFZ). This "zone" is determined separately for each test, sex, and age level, and is consistent with a level of physical fitness that provides health benefits. This data set includes scores from 636 middle school students ages 10-15 in grades 6-8, collected from Fall 2005 to Fall 2006. Overall, the percentage of physically fit students increased during the school year for measures of cardiovascular and abdominal strength and endurance. The following fall, the scores for cardiovascular endurance dropped slightly, whereas the abdominal strength scores continued to improve. Upper body strength and endurance did not follow this pattern, showing an overall decrease in the percentage of students in the HFZ. Additional analyses include the results for tests of flexibility and body composition, as well as tests of statistical significance for the changes in student scores over time. Most importantly, this study looks at the nutrition and physical activity interventions in the area, describes possible reasons for fluctuations in student scores, and provides recommendations for future data collection and educational efforts. |
