Schools addressing obesity on report cards doesn't help students lose weight, study shows

Reporting students&#039; weight has been proven ineffective.

(Image credit: iStock)

published 14 March 2016

New York City public schools have been evaluating students' weight on their report cards for a decade, including a BMI number, a weight percentile, and a designation indicating whether they're at a healthy weight or not. That hasn't helped students lose weight, a Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences study out Monday shows.

In fact, the average overweight girl gained more weight than her lighter peers.

Similar studies have been carried out based on high schools in other areas, but AP reports the New York City study so far is the best evidence to suggest the National Institute of Medicine's recommended in-school BMI measuring doesn't work as planned due to the large number of kids tracked: 1.1 million.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Explore More

Julie Kliegman is a freelance writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in BuzzFeed, Vox, Mental Floss, Paste, the Tampa Bay Times and PolitiFact. Her cats can do somersaults.