Created more than 20 years ago by The Cooper Institute, FITNESSGRAM™ is based on rock-solid research. It’s the only health-related fitness assessment to use criterion-referenced standards, called Healthy Fitness Zones, to determine students’ fitness levels based on what is optimal for good health. These standards are backed by the highly respected FITNESSGRAM™ Scientific Advisory Board.

FITNESSGRAM™ was developed by The Cooper Institute in an effort to provide physical educators with a tool that would facilitate communicating fitness testing results to students and to parents. The assessment measures three components of health-related physical fitness that have been identified as important to overall health and function:

• aerobic capacity;
• body composition; and
• muscular strength, endurance, and flexibility.

You can see the new FITNESSGRAM™ Healthy Fitness Zone® standards that have been applied to the North Carolina IsPOD program in 2011.