The purpose of this study was to examine the reporting differences between the National Center for Disease Control’s BMI for Age charts and the Lohman body fat percent categories for children and adolescents. A stratified design was used in an attempt to fairly represent the diverse demographics of the state of New Mexico. Students were approached to participate in the study during their physical education classes. The number of participants for this study was 1,853 students who ranged in age from six to sixteen. BMI and body fat percent (BFP) were calculated for all participants. Body fat percent was determined by the Slaughter (1989) two-site skinfold measurement (triceps and medial calf) and formula. The descriptive results indicated a fair representation of gender and race. The overall BMI for all ages was 20.07 kg/m2. BMI means by age indicated that the mean for each age group approached the 85th percentile according the CDC BMI for Age charts. Frequencies and percentages were calculated for four categories (1) underweight, (2) normal, (3) at-risk for being overweight (85th percentile), and (4) overweight (95th percentile). The BMI results indicated that 19.9 percent of the students were classified as overweight. The overall BFP for all ages was 20.93. Frequencies and percentages were calculated for five categories (1) underweight, (2) normal, (3) moderately overweight, (4) overweight, and (5) extremely overweight. The results indicated that 35.6 percent of the students were classified as moderately overweight to extremely overweight. A χ2 analysis between BMI and BFP of the number of students reported as overweight revealed a significant difference (p<.05). The results showed that the CDC's BMI for age charts reported 357 students at the 95th percentile or greater while the results from the Lohman BFP categories indicated that 636 students were moderately overweight or greater. Based upon these results it is indicated that the popular BMI method may be under-reporting the severity of the overweight and obesity situation for many of our youth. It is speculated that due to inactive lifestyles there is a greater amount of body fat weight than fat free mass weight. The insensitivity of the BMI height and weight ratio fails to account for an unhealthy imbalance between fat mass and fat free mass; therefore, BMI may be misdiagnosing a large number of youth who are at-risk for developing chronic diseases associated with high fat mass to fat free mass ratios. Keyword(s): assessment, measurement/evaluation, youth-at-risk