Overview of the NFL PLAY 60 FITNESSGRAM Partnership Project

Background/Purpose: The NFL Play 60 FITNESSGRAM Partnership Project was designed to understand factors influencing the effectiveness of school-based physical education programming. With support from the NFL Foundation, The Cooper Institute is providing training and support to over 1,100 participating schools (approximately 35 from each of the 32 NFL markets). The presentation will provide an overview of the unique participatory design that makes it possible to specifically study school outcomes associated with the use of FITNESSGRAM and NFL PLAY 60 programming.

Method: Schools in the project are provided with FITNESSGRAM software, web-hosting, test administration kits and support. Student level fitness data is obtained from the FITNESSGRAM battery while physical activity data and behavioral correlates are obtained from an online physical activity instrument called the Youth Activity Profile. School-level data is obtained from surveys completed by the teachers upon entry in the project and annual surveys about physical education and the specific use of PLAY 60 programming.

Analysis/Results: The overall goal of the project is to encourage the participating sites to take full advantage of the coordinated fitness and physical activity resources available through the NFL PLAY 60 FITNESSGRAM Partnership Project. Thousands of schools and school districts across the nation have utilized the FITNESSGRAM software but most only use a small fraction of the tools and capabilities built into the program. The most common use is to simply track fitness outcomes. While fitness evaluations provide important information to schools, parents and children it is more important to develop programming that helps children to establish and maintain healthy fitness levels over time. Therefore, the goal of this project is to help schools learn how to integrate FITNESSGRAM testing with the coordinated use of the existing NFL PLAY 60 Programs. Schools have the potential to benefit from the training and support, and the evaluation provides insights about the level of training and support needed to most effectively promote and enhance school-based fitness programming.

Conclusions: Lessons learned through this coordinated implementation can help to identify best practices for school physical education programming and facilitate broader adoption across the country to help promote physical activity and help address the obesity epidemic facing America’s youth.