ANN ARBOR, MI - The Blue Cross Blue Shield Fitness for Youth program is using a $300,000 grant from the Provost of the University of Michigan to help bolster its testing of state children's fitness and physical activity levels.
Officially called the Statewide Assessment Initiative, the new project will test children's fitness levels, motor skills, health-related knowledge, personal/social skills and behavior. Dr. Charles T. Kuntzleman, director of Fitness for Youth, says he hopes to evaluate around 100,000 students in the 1998-99 school year. Over 75,000 were assessed during the 1997-98 school year.
Kuntzleman says the data will help provide an assessment of the fitness, activity and health of Michigan youth. He hopes to use this information to identify why youth in Michigan are not active and correct poor fitness choices before they become health risks later in life. "Physical activity patterns are established in childhood," he says. "Teaching students proper fitness early on increases their chances of being active adults."
Rey Regualos, project coordinator at the University, agrees. "This project will help us target areas where Michigan children need to improve," he says. "By doing this, we are ensuring that children will be healthy both now and the future, improving their quality of life and reducing the amount of money the state economy has to pay for health care."
Previous studies by Kuntzleman showed that Michigan youth are heavier and have higher blood pressures and lower cholesterol levels than the average U.S. child. "The expansion of testing will help us better understand why Michigan children are not doing so well," Kuntzleman says. "We will be examining their health-related attitudes, behaviors and knowledge, plus when they learn different motor skills."
Important information is beginning to emerge from the assessment. This includes details on how gender and socioeconomic status affects fitness levels and motor skill acquisition and evidence that Michigan youth do not receive enough physical education class time.
While the testing has just begun, it is hoped that during the next year, more information will appear, including: the impact health-related physical fitness, knowledge, attitudes and behaviors have on motor skill acquisition, youth activity and their fitness levels. The research will also examine how much Michigan children watch TV and play video games and the influence these behaviors have on their obesity and physical fitness levels.
Fitness for Youth uses written tests and visits from Statewide Assessment (SWAT) teams to perform the evaluations at local schools. These teams help physical educators test children's motor skills in areas such as batting, throwing, kicking, hopping and running. Although SWAT members sometimes give fitness, knowledge, personal/social and behavior assessments, teachers usually administer these tests at a different time and send them to the University.
These assessments are analyzed at the Blue Cross Blue Shield Fitness for Youth office at the University of Michigan. Fitness for Youth uses the results for its own research and sends each student a personalized report card showing how she or he did, along with helpful tips on how he or she can improve.
Physical educators also receive their students' results. Regualos believes this information will help them greatly. "Finding out how their students are doing will help teachers by either encouraging them to continue teaching the same way or telling them areas they need to change or emphasize more," he says.
SWAT team members do not all come from the University of Michigan. Eight other Michigan colleges and universities are involved in the project as well. They include: Northern Michigan University, Central Michigan University, Grand Valley State University, Saginaw Valley State University, Eastern Michigan University, Michigan State University, Albion College and Spring Arbor College.
Regualos says these institutions are crucial to the project's success. "Their role is just as important as ours," he says. "Their local influence and hard work allow us to evaluate many more students than we could without them."
The Statewide Assessment Initiative comes at a time when the fitness levels of American children are plummeting. America's youth are becoming heavier and exercising less, despite the Surgeon General's warning that lack of physical activity is a major health risk. Michigan children are even worse. Not only are they among the heaviest and least fit in the country, but 39% of them have elevated cholesterol levels and 63% of high school students fail to meet minimum standards for physical activity.
Kuntzleman sees physical education as being in a unique position to combat these trends. He hopes the Statewide Assessment Initiative will highlight the health problems of Michigan youth and give physical educators specific areas they need to target. "I believe this project will positively influence Michigan youth, ensuring they have a happy, healthy future," he says.