Demographic Distinction: Exploring FitnessGram Norms for Diverse Youth

Data informed instruction is meaningful, powerful, and often challenging for educators to use consistently. Fitness data for youth has been utilized for PE programming, student fitness progress, and leverage for securing physical education funding within districts. FitnessGram is a standardized HRF assessment that has psychometric integrity for 5-12 grade youth with national norms for gender and age. Physical educators at a large, diverse intermediate school have compiled ~10 years of FitnessGram data for their 5th-6th graders, completing both fall and spring fitness assessments for students. Only 30% of students are white, with ~70% of various races. Teachers analyzed this data exploring data distributions and determining any differences between national norms and normative data from their diverse group. Creating and utilizing population-specific norms helps these teachers examine fitness trends for their unique student population as well as tailor curriculum and programming to address gaps in fitness for their diverse student group.