Examining the grading process for the Government indicator of the 2024 ParticipACTION Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth.

Introduction: The ParticipACTION Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth is the national assessment of children and youth’s physical activity and related behaviours. Traditionally, the Government indicator was graded through a subjective process, but the 2024 Report Card applied a more systematic and objective scoring rubric. This manuscript describes the process and results of using this rubric to grade the Government indicator.

Methods: National, provincial, and territorial physical activity-related policies, budget items, and initiatives from 2022 to 2024 were gathered. This collated document was shared with the Federal-Provincial/Territorial Sport, Physical Activity and Recreation Council (SPARC), a group of government officials from the public health and sport sectors. After SPARC feedback, a score was calculated for the Government indicator.

Results: A total score of 67.7/100% was calculated, and a B grade was assigned for the Government indicator. The score was based on the number of policies (score: 4/5), breadth of policies (score: 4/5), and identified supporting actions (score: 14.7/20), accountable organizations (score: 15/25), reporting structures (score: 10/15), funding (score: 15/20), and monitoring and evaluation plans (score: 5/10).

Conclusion: The B grade in 2024 is slightly higher than the B− in 2020 and 2022. It is unknown whether this represents true positive change in Canada or a measurement artifact from the new scoring rubric. Canadian Report Card researchers will continue to employ this more objective rubric, and we encourage other Global Report Card leaders to do the same.