University study finds that many school wellness policies still have more bark than bite
CHICAGO—Three years after a federal rule was enacted ordering school districts to develop wellness policies, many of the policies created are missing required provisions and lack any real force, according to a study released by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
The study, called “Bridging The Gap,” was conducted by the Health Policy Center of the Institute for Health Research and Policy at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Researchers surveyed a nationally representative sampling of school districts to determine whether wellness policies were in place and how strong those policies are.
The study concluded that although virtually every district in the nation has enacted a wellness policy, only 61% of them are fully compliant as specified by the government mandate. Further, the researchers stated that the average “strength” score for a wellness document was 33 out of 100, even though “many written policies included provisions that were not required by the Act . . ., and some written policies exceeded federal requirements by including standards for school meals that were more stringent than those specified in the Act.”
The main reason for this, according to the research, was that many policies were written in vague language that made suggestions but did not require specific action.
Following are some of the key findings contained in the report:
Competitive foods and beverages: Policies varied wildly in this area, and the rules generally were weaker for middle and high schools than for elementary schools. This was one area where, according to the report, rules were issued more as guidelines than as mandates. For example:
• No policies banned competitive foods and beverages at the middle or high school levels and only 7% banned such products at the elementary school level;
• Nutritional content restrictions on vending machines and à la carte cafeteria sales were more common than restrictions on school fundraisers or classroom parties;
• Less than 15% of middle school students and only 5% of high school students were in a district that either banned competitive beverage sales or banned the sale of regular soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages; and,
• More than three-quarters of all high school students were in districts that did not address many types of sugar-sweetened beverages in their wellness policies.
School meals: The vast majority of districts surveyed required school meals to meet standards set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Unfortunately, in many districts these standards are based on the 1995 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which are outdated.
In the most recent year, slightly more than one-half of students were enrolled in districts that required nutritional guidelines to meet the 2005 Dietary Guidelines, which exceed mandated standards. In addition, 20% of elementary school students and 17% of middle and high school students were in districts that required meals to either exceed the 2005 standards or meet the 2009 standards set by the Institute for Medicine.
Finally, less than 15% of students were in districts with policies that mandated at least 20 minutes for lunch and 10 minutes for breakfast, which are the minimum times recommended by the USDA.
Nutrition education: According to the research, there remains inconsistencies in how districts approach nutrition education in their wellness programs, with many policies again making suggestions instead of rules. For instance:
• Nearly one-half of students attend schools with wellness policies that only suggest nutrition education curriculum; and,
• Nearly one-half of all students were enrolled in districts whose policies did not integrate nutrition education into core subjects.
Researchers suggested that convincing schools to become more compliant with federal mandates in their wellness policies could go a long way to stemming childhood obesity. The report stated, “There is growing evidence that school-based policies regulating foods and beverages and required levels and types of physical activity are significantly related to calories consumed and expended by school-age children, and to their weight and body mass index levels.”