How to meet the "Assessment Requirement" to obtain a Grant
“assessment requirement to obtain a grant n grant writing, there's no greater disappointment interesting? To cut through the confusion, you'll need than missing out on badly needed funds because of one crucial omission in your application. Teachers, school ofÏcials and children's group leada way to clearly evaluate the assessment options you ers who are seeking grants for their fitness programs quickly encounter what is often called the "assessment requirement" in their applications. Completing have available to you.
Fitness grants are based on the premise that they this section properly can mean the difference between winning a grant and having to look for other assist schools or other groups increase the physical ways to fund your athletic and fitness programs. can include programs that promote general health or The assessment requirement of most grant applications addresses the need for a practical and accuprograms that target specific groups suffering from rate measurement of the goals of the program.
For Being able to demonstrate progress towards the grants to fitness programs, this portion of the applicaattainment of these goals is essential in obtaining tion generally will include a description of the grant money. Let's have a look at how this applicamethod proposed to determine progress towards the tion or proposal requirement might be written. attainment of the program's fitness goals, including the rate at which you expect this progress to be For the PEP grant, the progress evaluation description of the application accounts for 25 percent made.
of the total score given to the application in the rating This requirement brings up important questions: fitness of children and improve their health. These health problems related to a sedentary lifestyle. process. This is no less than the percentage applied to Exactly how do we know that our children are the other three parts of the application (need for the becoming more fit, healthier, and stronger? Does project, significance, and quality of the project "thin" mean fit and healthy? Does a slow heart mean fit and healthy? What is the best way to measure typical markers of these attributes? In your proposed design).
program, which measuring tools are accurate and you will monitor progress towards the stated goals, helpful as motivators, rather than merely accepted or your application stands little chance of being award- Even if you have designed the best possible program, if you have not given adequate thought to how ed a PEP grant. The PEP grant committee considers helpful in proposing your program for funding, as two factors in assessing the quality of the project well as actual assessment of progress once the proevaluation methods in an application. These are as gram is underway.
follows: + The extent to which the methods of evaluation include the use of objective performance measures popular device is included on everything from treadthat are clearly related to the intended outcomes of mills to stair climbers. A device that measures the the project and will produce quantitative and qualitarate at which the heart is beating, the heart rate monitive data to the extent possible. tor takes the usual pulse-counting procedure of the ¢ The extent to which the methods of evaluation typical aerobic class to a high-tech level.
It is sold by will provide performance feedback and permit many fitness equipment companies specifically as periodic assessment of progress toward achievan assessment aid for grant-financed proing intended outcomes. grams.
The heart monitor has several Look for similar requirements in other grant notices, and be sure to give this section due consideration.
One of the most common tools used and proposed in grant applications and proposals for the evaluation of progress toward the stated fitness goals is a heart rate monitor. Although this device is easy to use and is an effective method for evaluating a decrease in the working heart rate under certain conditions, it is not an effective method to evaluate overall fitness or to reach many of the objectives that grantors are looking for. ciency of the heart muscle. That raises the issue of whether a slow heart rate equals fitness, and Generally Accepted Goals of Fitness Programs many fitness experts say that it does not. In his book Facts and Fallacies of Fitness, the late sport scientist Dr.
Mel Siff noted that it is a myth Fitness programs generally have some or all of the following objectives: that heart rate monitors provide accurate information on the training effect of fitness programs. Siff also pointed out that studies have shown that heart rate monitors often have minimal benefit in determining intensity and training effect. Further, optimal heart rates differ greatly among individuals, even those of the same age and fitness levels.
While the monitors can show a decrease in pulse rate, which can correspond somewhat with overall . Improve cardiovascular fitness and health improved fitness, it is a better measure of heart efÏ- ciency than of arterial health or of any of the other . Increase muscle efÏciency and oxygen consumption important fitness markers listed earlier. Certainly, it serves no use as an indicator of factors contributing to the general well being of children, including Your choice of an assessment tool depends on stronger bones, decreased rates of obesity and lower the objectives of your proposed program and must susceptibility to injuries and diabetes. Clearly, the measure your specified goals.
heart rate monitor is of very limited value in meeting Let's have a look at the most common ass general fitness grant objectives. It also is deficient in ment tools. We will consider here the various indicasatisfying the typical grant proposal assessment tors of fitness and evaluation methods that may prove requirement of the PEP grant, which requires that the assessment method will be "clearly related to the quantitative and qualitative data to the extent possiobtain adequately consistent readings that would be helpful in assessing progress towards reducing body fat. For example, eating a large pasta meal or other ble."
high-carbohydrate meal will cause the body to retain intended outcomes of the project and will produce Clearly indicating your reasons for using a different method of assessment than the heart rate monitor in the assessment section of your proposal may increase your chances of winning a grant by making the application stand out from the crowd. It will also indicate that you have serious intentions of reaching complete fitness objectives rather than just recording superficial markers. more water and will dramatically affect the reading of such a device.
The electrical impedance device can be an ideal way to monitor a child's progress toward reduced body fat, a critical health marker for today's often overweight child. However, it must be administered properly to be useful as an assessment tool.
SKIN CALIPERS. Skin calipers are simple devices BLOOD PRESSURE MONITORS. Blood pressure is a very important health marker. High blood presfor gently pinching the skin folds of various body sure correlates closely with stiffness in the arteries, determine the amount of subcutaneous fat. The level which causes the arteries to be more prone to injury and indicates higher levels of plaque buildup and calcification. These factors are known to increase the of subcutaneous fat corresponds generally to the level of visceral fat around the body organs. areas and measuring the thickness of the folds to A consistent schedule that measures between tisk of heart disease.
Monitoring blood pressure to protect the overall muscle - makes sense. A blood pressure cuff is a relatively inexpensive and easy-touse assessment tool. It's children to become more aware of the health of their cardiovasfat levels, a critical health marker in physical fitness and health. to control their blood pressure by easy collection of readily quantifiable data with a simple and inexpensive tool. eight and ten different areas can provide a relatively ELECTRICAL IMPEDANCE SCALES. Electrical impedance scales measure the percentage of body fat accurate measure of decreases of overall body fat by an individual standing on the plates and passing electrical current through the body.
The resistance of the method is easy to teach. Skin calipers are also this current flow then determines the level of fat to percentages. Further, skin calipers are easy to use and relatively inexpensive.
As high body fat levels are highly correlated lean body mass. Although such devices might appear with cardiovascular health risks, diabetes and joint to be a simple, accurate and effective method to assess this critical health marker, they must be used properly. fitness program.
skin calipers can be extremely helpful in measuring this very important health marker in any The electrical current flow though the body depends on hydration levels, and it is necessary to maintain hydration levels that are stable enough to ment of the increase in the body's ability to utilize oxygen is a helpful indicator of fitness levels, it may A careful consideration of appropriate performbe impractical to use this indicator in many fitness ance tests would be useful in finding ways to assess programs. VO2 max levels are determined by having progress under your proposed program.
However, the athlete perform a highly aerobic activity while blowing into sensors that measure the oxygen consumed. This involves expensive and specialized equipment not easily available to most youth fitness program providers. So although this equipment is an excellent means to measure muscular and cardiovascular fitness and efÏciency, it is simply impractical as an assessment tool.
BONE SCANS. Bone scans are another method of assessing health by measuring bone density and the susceptibility to osteoporosis. The scans must be performed in a medical environment. Such equipment might be readily available to professional athletes or health care practitioners, but as a program assessstandards. ment tool it is completely impractical for children. So although bone density is an important consideration in any fitness program, increased bone health will have to be assumed by a program's has its advantages, some are clearly more helpful emphasis on weight-bearing exercises, a critical comthan others in evaluating your group's progress ponent of any fitness program.
toward attaining overall fitness and health. Keep in Keeping bone health in mind, it is important to point out that simply having children work on mind that although aerobic training programs are among the most popular proposals of those For the latest information on grant writing, including many online resources, you can download grams may leave out vital elements of fitness that could be addressed by a weight training a cardio machine and assessing their progress with a heart monitor will do little to contribute to this important indicator of health. be inadequate to measure the success of your program.
The assessment method for a fitness program ideally would involve more than one approach. A combination of practical assessment tests, skin calipers for body fat measurements and a blood pressure assessment would give a PRACTICAL ASSESSMENT TESTS. Traditional far more accurate picture of progress in a physical fitness tests such as vertical jump tests, sprints, chineducation program. ups. push-ups and so on are perhaps highly underrated as fitness indicators. These tests can easily i Knowing the benefits and complementary aspects of each of these assessment methods will cate increased strength, endurance and power. help you in writing an effective grant application.
A Further, they are easy to conduct and can indicate clear proposal that explains these factors, along with consistent progress over time, and there are considerdescribing specific assessment tests and expected able data available to establish standards. They cost results, will be a compelling reason for grant nothing but provide the same encouraging progress providers to fund your fitness program. BR” reporting as expensive methods.
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From BFS Magazine — January/February 2005. Part of the BFS Magazine Archive (1980–2014).
