USDA's Role in School Meals & Physical Activity: Key to Academic Success, Schemes and Mind Maps of Nutrition

Download USDA's Role in School Meals & Physical Activity: Key to Academic Success and more Schemes and Mind Maps Nutrition in PDF only on Docsity! Framework for Action: Addressing Nutrition and Physical Activity through ESSA Implementation Framework for Action: Addressing Nutrition and Physical Activity through ESSA Implementation 2 This resource is a supplement to “State ESSA Plans to Support Student Health and Wellness: A Framework for Action.” This supplement provides more detailed recommendations for supporting nutrition and physical activity during the school day through ESSA implementation. What is the status of nutrition and physical activity in schools? Nutrition. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), three in five students—more than 30 million children—eat one or two school meals daily. The National School Lunch Program (NSLP), which is managed by the USDA, was created in 1946 to provide nutritious meals to low-income students. The federal school meal program was later expanded to include breakfast, meals during the summer, after- school snacks and dinner. The USDA provides funding for school meals, establishes eligibility for subsidy of the meal, and creates nutritional standards for school meals and some other food sold in schools. Since the 2014-2015 school year, schools that participate in the federal meals program have also been required to follow nutrition standards for foods sold on the school grounds during the school day. For more information about how the federal school meal programs supports students’ educational outcomes and health, see Five Facts About School Meal Programs from the Pew Charitable Trusts Kids’ Safe and Healthful Foods Project. Since 2004, the USDA has required school districts that participate in the federal meal programs to establish local wellness policies that codify local nutrition and physical activity practices. For example, schools can use their local wellness policies to require that recess occur before lunch, prohibit the use of food as a reward or physical activity as a punishment, implement nutrition education standards, or require periodic physical activity breaks. By June 2017, local wellness policies must also limit the marketing of food items on school grounds to those that meet the same nutrition standards as foods sold by the school during the school day. For more information on how wellness policies can create healthier school environments, review Local Wellness Policies on the USDA website. In addition, the Alliance for a Healthier Generation’s Framework for Action: Addressing Nutrition and Physical Activity through ESSA Implementation The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) recognizes the need for schools to support the whole child and specifically acknowledges the importance of health and wellness. ESSA also provides an opportunity to ensure equitable access to quality education and the conditions that support student learning. Health is a key part of this. ESSA transitions authority from the federal government to state education agencies. Thus, as states begin to implement ESSA, it is critical they do so in a way that supports health and wellness. The good news is that schools do not need to do this alone. ESSA calls for stakeholder engagement from multiple sectors to create state ESSA plans. The vision ESSA presents of supporting the whole child aligns closely with the visions of other sectors, including the health and public health sectors. States can take a comprehensive approach to developing their state plan by using the different elements to support each other. For example, an ideal state plan might include: · A state accountability system that requires schools to maintain healthy school environments. · State and local report cards that publicly track how schools perform on additional indicators not appropriate for an accountability system. · State assessments that ensure school districts are offering a well-rounded education by testing students on the state’s existing, or emerging, standards in health, nutrition, physical education (PE) or social- emotional learning. · Needs assessments that consider health and wellness and identify evidence-based policies, practices and programs to lead to school improvement. · A professional development program that equips educators to better meet the needs of the whole child, including training on nutrition education. Framework for Action: Addressing Nutrition and Physical Activity through ESSA Implementation 5 their data in order to see improvement over time. The Presidential Youth Fitness Program (PYFP) is a physical education and assessment program that is used to track student fitness data. Data collected with these tools are ideal for use as part of a state’s accountability system and/or on a state’s report card. These data can also support needs assessments for schools in need of improvement. Accountability system and report card measures When considering which measures to include in accountability systems and report cards, it is important to understand how the two differ. State accountability systems serve as a concrete way to ensure that schools are meeting state benchmarks for the educational attainment of their students. In contrast, state and local report cards are more of a community accountability system that can provide advocates with the information they need to push for changes. They can also be a good interim step for exploring new measures that could be added to the state accountability system in the future, if the data show they are reasonable and meet the criteria. For example, if a policy is new, or you have reason to believe that most schools are not yet hitting the mark, it could be discouraging or damaging to make that policy a part of the accountability system. Performance in certain areas might fall along a continuum and the schools in your state might be at the beginning of the spectrum. In these cases, it might be better to first require public reporting on state or local report cards. Once the majority of schools have achieved acceptable performance on that standard, the state could consider elevating it to inclusion in the state accountability system. Some examples of possible accountability system indicators: · Results of student fitness tests: If adequate state support is in place to ensure that all schools have the needed resources to conduct fitness tests, this could be an appropriate measure to include in an accountability system and/or state report card. receiving a waiver from a PE class and the requirements to obtain a license to teach PE are also state-level decisions. In 2013, the Institute of Medicine conducted a workshop to explore the benefits of national nutrition education curriculum standards and learning objectives for elementary and secondary schools.15 Though several potential benefits were identified, national standards were not ultimately adopted, leaving decisions about nutrition education standards to the states. In 2014, fourteen states required nutrition education in elementary, middle and/or high school.16 Of these, six states had specific standards by grade level for elementary, middle and high school. Advocates should begin by developing a strong understanding of their state’s laws, policies and practices that address nutrition and physical activity to identify the available leverage points and consider ways to set fair standards. If your state already has a statewide fitness-testing program in place, it may make sense for those test scores to be included on a report card or in an accountability system. However, if most schools in your state are not conducting fitness tests, it might make more sense to focus your efforts on getting the structure in place to support fitness testing, possibly by asking for state funding to create a grant program for the startup costs. Collecting school data on nutrition, physical activity and student physical fitness levels Many tools can be used to collect data on the nutrition and physical activity practices within schools. The most well-known school health assessment is the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) School Health Index (SHI). The SHI contains questions specific to nutrition, physical education, and physical activity. The Alliance for a Healthier Generation’s Healthy Schools Program Assessment utilizes the criteria of the School Health Index, and allows schools to store and track 15. IOM (Institute of Medicine). 2013. Nutrition education in the K-12 curriculum: The role of national standards: Workshop summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. 16. National Cancer Institute. 2014. Classification of Laws Associated with School Students. https://class.cancer.gov/ map_nutrition.aspx Framework for Action: Addressing Nutrition and Physical Activity through ESSA Implementation 6 activity per day, achieved through a combination of recess, classroom PA breaks, and PE class. · Presence of a school wellness committee: School wellness committees typically assess the school health environment and identify ways to strengthen it to improve the health of students and staff. They provide advice and expertise to administrators in the building and provide feedback to the district regarding implementation of health-related wellness policies and programs. They also report about these policies and programs to the public (including parents, students and community members). · Presence of and adherence to local wellness policy requirements: Each district that participates in the National School Lunch Program or other federal child nutrition programs is required by federal law to establish a local wellness policy for all schools under its jurisdiction. Schools may also have their own wellness policies. These policies should include information on the nutritional content of foods sold in all areas of the school building (including vending machines and school stores) as well as the minutes of daily recess offered. Collection of data related to the policy is included in the administrative reviews conducted for compliance with the Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act of 2010. · Integration of nutrition education content into health education standards: Health education standards should include nutrition education requirements by grade level. How can nutrition and physical activity be supported through needs assessments? Needs assessments can provide advocates with an opportunity to ensure that schools and districts are considering the impact of health and wellness on student achievement. Getting involved in the development and implementation of a needs assessment can ensure that factors such as school climate, nutrition education programs, or opportunities for physical activity are examined as possible ways to improve academic achievement. This strategy can also be a way to increase the number of schools that are implementing nutrition and physical activity practices, which can make it more feasible to include these on state and local report cards and ultimately on accountability systems. Some examples of possible report card measures: · School meal participation rates: This information is already collected by schools and submitted to USDA in order to receive financial reimbursement for the meals served. It is also a part of the Administrative Review process and will soon be publicly shared on the state’s website. Data indicating that students are being served meals that meet certain standards does not guarantee that they are eating the food that is served, but it can be an important indicator of overall program quality. · Minutes of PE offered by grade: The main concern with including PE as an accountability system measure is that most schools are not tracking student participation in a way that allows the state to disaggregate the data by student subgroup. There is also a lot of variance in the quality of PE that is delivered to students, so just capturing the amount of time they spend in class may not be enough to know how it impacts their health. It might be an appropriate measure for a state report card, if there are additional measures included to provide context that better addresses these potential concerns. (For example PE class size or the number of licensed PE teachers per school). · PE class size: In order to ensure that PE instruction is of high quality, PE class size should be no larger than the standard class size for other subjects. Ensuring an appropriate student-to-teacher ratio in PE classes allows the teacher to provide individualized instruction, and increases the likelihood that all students will spend at least 50 percent of class time engaged in moderate to vigorous physical activity. · Minutes of physical activity: Because physical activity is most commonly delivered to groups of students, it is hard to track and disaggregate individual student participation by subgroup. Quality and type also varies greatly, so time alone is not sufficient to demonstrate health impact. Particularly in states without a physical activity time requirement, this might be an appropriate measure to include on state report cards because it demonstrates a commitment to using the school day to improve student health. National best practice is for schools to provide students with 60 minutes of physical Framework for Action: Addressing Nutrition and Physical Activity through ESSA Implementation 7 and school staff, online and in person. These include the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, the Presidential Youth Fitness Program, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Healthy Schools and USDA’s Team Nutrition. How and nutrition and physical activity be supported through professional development? Professional development programs provide an excellent opportunity to ensure that teachers and staff understand how to integrate health and wellness into their interactions with students, but such programs vary widely from state to state in the way they address student health issues. As the adults who spend the most waking hours with children during the week, it is important that all school personnel are equipped to look out for the health and safety of their students. A recent study showed that elementary school teachers are already spending about 180 hours per school year addressing student health issues.17,18 USDA has created professional standards for all employees of the school meals programs, and those were enforced for the first time during the 2015-2016 school year. The child nutrition agencies in each state, who are usually located in the state department of education, are responsible for enforcing these standards and creating a training program to support school meal staff. Because their job responsibilities are different from classroom teachers, school meal staff are not required to obtain a professional teaching license. Depending on their level of responsibility, they may be expected to participate in ongoing professional development and may be asked to obtain certain nutrition and food safety certifications. Training on nutrition education can be used to satisfy annual continuing education requirements for child nutrition program staff.19 17. Hill, N. J., & Hollis, M. (2011). Teacher time spent on student health issues and school nurse presence. Journal of School Nursing, 28(3), 181. 18. Baisch, M. J., Lundeen, S. P., & Murphy, M. K. (2011). Evidence- based research on the value of school nurses in an urban school system. Journal of School Health, 81, 74-80. 19. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service. National School Lunch Program Professional Development Standards. https://www.fns.usda.gov/school-meals/ professional-standards In addition, including health and wellness in needs assessments represents an important strategy to ensure school districts and schools are able to implement data-informed programming to improve the measures included in state accountability systems and report cards. For example, if school meal participation rates are included on the school report card and participation rates are low, information collected through a needs assessment could be used to better understand the underlying reasons for the low participation. Title I or Title IV funding could then be used to implement strategies to improve meal participation. In addition, the data collected through needs assessments can help school districts select evidence- based interventions to address any insufficiencies that are identified. There is a significant body of research documenting evidence-based interventions related to nutrition and physical activity: · The Alliance for a Healthier Generation has a variety of tools and resources available online and free of charge to schools that sign up for the Healthy Schools Program. These tools and resources address nutrition, physical education, physical activity and wellness policies. · The CDC has created the Comprehensive School Physical Activity Program (CSPAP) framework to show the different components of a quality physical activity program. They have also created a set of resources specifically about providing recess in schools, as well as a comprehensive overview of tools and resources. · The Smarter Lunchrooms Movement applies behavioral economics to persuade students to make healthier choices in the cafeteria. · Team Nutrition provides clearinghouses for evidence- based nutrition education resources. States can apply for Team Nutrition and SNAP-Ed grants to implement nutrition education. You can reach out to the SNAP- Ed implementing agency in your state for additional information. · The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics has developed a Guide for Effective Nutrition Interventions and Education (GENIE). · Several organizations offer free or low cost professional development opportunities for teachers Framework for Action: Addressing Nutrition and Physical Activity through ESSA Implementation 10 Section of ESSA Plan Physical Education/Physical Activity Nutrition Accountability Include student fitness assessment data as indicator of school quality or student success Assessments Design and administer assessment for physical education Design and administer assessment for health education, including nutrition education State Report Cards Include the following: · Minutes of PE by grade level · Opportunities for physical activity throughout the school day · PE class size · Presence of a school wellness committee · Adherence to local wellness policy requirements around physical education and physical activity Include the following: · School meal participation rates · Presence of a school wellness committee · Adherence to local wellness policy requirements around nutrition · Integration of nutrition education content into health education standards ESSA State Plan Physical Education/Activity and Nutrition Specific Recommendations Continued on the next page Framework for Action: Addressing Nutrition and Physical Activity through ESSA Implementation 11 ESSA State Plan Physical Education/Activity and Nutrition Specific Recommendations, cont’d. Section of ESSA Plan Physical Education/Physical Activity Nutrition Professional Development Include the following: · High-quality, standards-based physical education (for physical education teachers) · Encouraging physical activity before, during and after the school day (for all school staff) · Integrating physical activity into other academic subject areas (for all school staff) · Incorporating physical activity into your life (for all school staff) · Local Wellness Policy requirements and implementation (for all school staff) · State laws or policies around the amount or quality of physical Education (for all school staff) Include the following: · High-quality, standards-based health education, including nutrition education (for health education teachers) · Integrating nutrition education into other academic subject areas (for all school staff) · Overview of federal meal programs and how school staff can support participation in meal programs (for all school staff) · Implementation of breakfast in the classroom (for all school staff) · Proper nutrition for health and weight management (for all school staff) · Local wellness policy requirements and implementation (for all school staff) · State laws or policies around all foods sold in schools or used as fundraisers (for all school staff) · Require nutrition education as part of annual child nutrition program staff training. See the USDA professional standards for school nutrition programs Continued on the next page Framework for Action: Addressing Nutrition and Physical Activity through ESSA Implementation 12 Section of ESSA Plan Physical Education/Physical Activity Nutrition Needs Assessments Data sources for needs assessments: · CDC School Health Index · Alliance for a Healthier Generation’s Healthy Schools Program assessment · State-required reports of adherence to Local Wellness Policy requirements or state laws or policies around the amount or quality of physical education · Youth Risk Behavior Survey data (if available locally) · Data from local hospitals or health systems indicating the number of students seen for chronic conditions such as asthma, obesity, diabetes, or heart disease Data Sources for Needs Assessments: · CDC School Health Index · Alliance for a Healthier Generation’s Healthy Schools Program Assessment · Free- and reduced-priced percentages, participation in CEP, and participation in school meals (as compared to eligibility) · Results of USDA administrative review (Conducted by State Department of Education) · State-required reports of adherence to Local Wellness Policy requirements or state laws or policies around all foods sold in schools or used as fundraisers · Youth Risk Behavior Survey data (if available locally) · Data from local hospitals or health systems indicating the number of students seen for chronic conditions such as asthma, obesity, diabetes, or heart disease · Performance on nutrition education proficiencies and competencies in states with relevant laws and regulations Evidence-Based Interventions · SHAPE America’s and the CDC’s Comprehensive School Physical Activity Program · Alliance for a Healthier Generation · Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · Smarter Lunchrooms Movement · Alliance for a Healthier Generation · Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · Team Nutrition · Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics’ Guide for Effective Nutrition Interventions and Education (GENIE) ESSA State Plan Physical Education/Activity and Nutrition Specific Recommendations, cont’d.