Local Wellness Policies: Assessing School District Strategies for Improving Children’s Health School Years 2006-07 and 2

1. Local Wellness Policies: Assessing School District Strategies for Improving Children’s HealthSchool Years 2006-07 and 2007-08 Jamie F. Chriqui, Ph.D., M.H.S. RWJF-supported Bridging the Gap Program Health Policy Center Institute for Health Research and Policy University of Illinois at Chicago This presentation is based on a series of webinars delivered between July-September 2009 Last revised 9/4/09

2. Acknowledgements I would like to graciously thank the following individuals for their work on/support of this monograph: • Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Burness Communications • Co-authors: Linda Schneider, Frank Chaloupka, Kristen Ide, Oksana Pugach • Coders and pilot testers

3. Presentation Overview • Overview of the federal wellness policy requirement • Overview of the methods used for the nationwide evaluation of the wellness policies • Highlights of the study results for school year (SY) 2007-08 • Illustrate how to access the full report, executive summary, and supporting data • Summarize continued evaluation plans

4. Child Nutrition & WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 (P.L. 108-265, Section 204) • Wellness policy required by 1st day ‘06-’07 school year • All school districts participating in Natl. School Lunch Program or Child Nutrition Programs • Required components: • Goals for nutrition education, physical activity, other school-based activities • Guidelines for all foods/sold served (i.e., competitive foods) • Assurance that reimbursable meal guidelines at least meet Federal regulations • Implementation plans • Involvement of key stakeholders in policy development

5. Brief Study Overview • Ongoing nationwide evaluation of school district wellness policies • Related studies examining school-level policies and practices • Nationally representative sample of 579 and 641 school districts, respectively, for school years 06-07 and 07-08 • Primary policy collection and analysis • “Policies” included: • wellness policy, associated regulations/procedures/guidelines, cross-referenced district and state policies, cross-referenced model policies • Response rate: 94% both years

6. District Sample Size by Year and Grade Level Source: Chriqui et al., Local Wellness Policies: Assessing School District Strategies for Improving Children’s Health. School Years 2006-07 and 2007-08. Chicago, IL: Bridging the Gap Program, 2009.

7. Brief Study Overview (cont.) • Policies evaluated on all aspects related to school nutrition and physical activity (over 100 items examined) • Required wellness policy elements: goals for nutrition education, school meal requirements, competitive food guidelines, goals for physical activity, and implementation plans • Note: These items are denoted by FW in the slides that follow. • Although not explicitly required in the wellness policy, provisions for physical education also were examined • Policies evaluated using an ordinal coding scheme: • O: No policy/provision • 1: Weak policy/provision (should, encourage, may, try, attempt) • 2: Strong policy/provision (must, shall, require) • Data presented weighted to %age of students nationwide in districts with given policy provision

8. Characteristics of the Study Population by Grade Level and Year Note: All data weighted to the student level. Source: Chriqui et al., Local Wellness Policies: Assessing School District Strategies for Improving Children’s Health. School Years 2006-07 and 2007-08. Chicago, IL: Bridging the Gap Program, 2009.

9. HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE MONOGRAPH

10. While Most Districts are Complying with the Wellness Policy Requirement, the Policies are Fairly Weak Source: Chriqui et al., Local Wellness Policies: Assessing School District Strategies for Improving Children’s Health. School Years 2006-07 and 2007-08. Chicago, IL: Bridging the Gap Program, 2009.

11. Most Districts Have Nutrition Education (NE) Goals but they are Not Specific E=Elem, M=Middle, H=High SY 07-08 NE curriculum NE integrated into other subjects NE teaches behavior-focused skills FW: Goals for NE Source: Chriqui et al., 2009

12. Most School Meal Guidelines are Limited to Federal School Meal Guidelines E=Elem, M=Middle, H=High SY 07-08 FW: Meal Guidelines meet Fed Gdlns Guidelines beyond Diet. Gdlns. of Am. Adequate time to eat Nutrition info for meals Source: Chriqui et al., 2009

13. Competitive Food Access Restrictions Vary by Grade Level E=Elem, M=Middle, H=High SY 07-08 FW: Guidelines for comp foods Vending machines School stores A la carte Classroom parties Food as a reward Source: Chriqui et al., 2009

14. Competitive Food Content Restrictions alsoVary by Grade Level E=Elem, M=Middle, H=High SY 07-08 Sugar content— foods Fat content— foods Calorie content- foods Regular soda Other Sugar Sweetened Beverages Fat content— milk sold outside meals Source: Chriqui et al., 2009

15. Most Physical Activity (PA) Policies are Relatively Weak E=Elem, M=Middle, H=High SY 07-08 FW: Goals for PA PA for every grade level PA opps. (breaks) during day Not using PA as punishment Daily recess Source: Chriqui et al., 2009

16. …and Most Address Physical Education (PE) but the Provisions are also Relatively Weak E=Elem, M=Middle, H=High SY 07-08 PE Addressed Mins PE/week NASPE std PE teaches lifelong skills PE devotes 50% time to MVPA Req. PE Taught by Auth. PE Teacher Source: Chriqui et al., 2009

17. Wellness Policy Plans for Implementation and Evaluation were also Lacking E=Elem, M=Middle, H=High SY 07-08 Implementation Plan (FW) Policy Revision Evaluation Plan Heath Adv. Committee Funding Support Source: Chriqui et al., 2009

18. NATIONWIDE EVALUATION RESULTS RELEASED Local Wellness Policies: Assessing School District Strategies for Improving Children’s Health. School Years 2006-07 and 2007-08. Executive Summary, Monograph, coding tool and backup data available at: www.bridgingthegapresearch.org

19. Continued Research Planned • Companion monographs on implementation of the wellness policies and related practices in elementary, middle and high schools • Analyses examining the relationships between the wellness policies and school practices • Ongoing surveillance of wellness policy and implementation progress and innovation following congressional reauthorization • Year 3 analyses account for Institute of Medicine Competitive Food Guidelines, build in more details to capture amount of time for PA/PE/Recess/Lunch

20. Jamie F. Chriqui, Ph.D., M.H.S. Senior Research Scientist Bridging the Gap Program and Health Policy Center Institute for Health Research and Policy University of Illinois at Chicago jchriqui@uic.edu (312) 996-6410 www.bridgingthegapresearch.org FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: