ACHI was asked to take the responsibility of developing and implementing standardized statewide BMI assessments and reporting. This information will provide parents with important knowledge regarding any health risks their child may incur as a result of being overweight or underweight. To accomplish this, ACHI put together a BMI Task Force in partnership with local school districts, the Arkansas Departments of Education, the Department of Health and Human Services, staff from the Arkansas Children’s Hospital, and the UAMS College of Public Health. The BMI Task Force developed a timeline and a strategy for implementation. Comparison testing on assessment equipment was done at nearly every school with multiple measures being taken. 

Year one (2003-04) was carried out in three phases.  Eleven schools volunteered to work with ACHI staff to organize an assessment day, share necessary information to accurately calculate BMI on each child, record height and weight data, and send home a confidential child health report to parents.  Comparison testing on assessment equipment was done at nearly every school with multiple measures being taken.  The BMI Task Force wanted to be able to recommend quality equipment at the best possible price should schools wish to purchase any equipment to complete assessments.  The tested strategy was then rolled out statewide.

Year two (2004-05) continued with BMI collection using paper assessment forms that were processed through a data entry center.  Schools received child health reports to print and disseminate to parents by using their unique password on a secured web system.  Two school districts also piloted a web-based entry system for collecting heights and weights.  One school district used Pocket PCs' while another collected heights and weights and entered directly into the web program.

Year three (2005-06) expanded the technology component to 16 school districts where over 130,000 students were entered into the new web-based entry system.  Some schools chose to enter heights and weights from paper records but many set up computers at their assessment stations to collect BMI data and enter directly into the web-based system.  Reports were then ready to be generated. 

Year four (2006-07) will see a statewide rollout of the web-based entry system.  All schools will be trained to use this technology.  It will eliminate the need to print forms, package and send to a data entry center, or wait for report generations.

Important community resources for the Task Force and school personnel have been Community Health Nurses, one of whom is placed in each educational co-op. These nurses were certified by experts in height and weight research measurements at Arkansas Children's Hospital. They, in turn, trained school health nurses and any other school personnel responsible for assessment in the appropriate methods to collect assessment data.  These same Community Health Nurses will be trained to be trainers of the web-based data entry system.

Related Legislation

Act 1220 of 2003, An Act to Create A Child Health Advisory Committee http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/ftproot/acts/2003/public/act1220.pdf

Act 29 of Second Extraordinary Session of 2003, An Act to Allow for Separate Student Health Reports http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/ftproot/acts/2003s2/public/act29.pdf

Act 317 of 2007, An Act to increase academic instruction time in public schools and to limit physical education requirements for public school students

Act 201 of 2007, An Act to change the periodicity of of annual body mass index reporting to parents

Act 719 of 2007, An Act to change the membership of the Child Health Advisory Committee and to amend the powers and duties of the CHAC

January 2005 Obesity Related Facts