Body Mass Index (BMI) Measurement in Schools - Safeguard 6

To facilitate efficient and accurate data collection, BMI measurement programs should coordinate data collection times with school administrators and employ a sufficient number of staff members to minimize disruptions to class time.

CDC’s BMI Tool for Schools is an excel spreadsheet that can compute up to 2000 BMI and BMI percentiles and provide a summary of students’ BMI-for-age categories and graphs for the prevalence of overweight and obesity. Software can substantially reduce the time it takes staff to conduct screenings. Other software may be available that can both aggregate the data and produce health report cards.

Source: Nihiser AJ, Lee SM, Wechsler H, McKenna M, Odom E, Reinold C, Thompson D, Grummer-Strawn L. Body Mass Index Measurement in Schools. Journal of School Health. 2007; 77:651-671.external icon

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