Quality Nutrition in Schools Resources
Action for Healthy Kids, Wellness Policy Tool
This tool helps schools create a local wellness policy that meets their districts’ unique goals for nutrition and physical activity, and helps them put the policy into action to positively impact students’ health and lifelong choices. Action for Healthy Kids is composed of more than 50 national organizations and government agencies representing education, health, fitness and nutrition.
www.actionforhealthykids.org/wellnesstool/index.php
Alliance for a Healthier Generation, Healthy Schools Program
The Healthy Schools Program provides information and resources to increase opportunities for students to exercise and eat healthier foods in schools. It also provides resources for teachers and staff to become healthy role models. The Alliance is a partnership between the American Heart Association and the William J. Clinton Foundation to fight childhood obesity. The Healthy Schools Program receives funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
www.healthiergeneration.org/schools.aspx
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Health Education Curriculum Analysis Tool (HECAT)
The CDC’s HECAT allows schools to evaluate and revise health education curricula based on 14 different criteria. HECAT is based on the guidelines and recommendations set by the National Health Education Standards and the CDC’s Characteristics of Effective Health Education Curricula. The tools are customizable based on the needs of a particular school or district.
www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/HECAT/index.htm
www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/SHER/characteristics/index.htm
Center for Science in the Public Interest, State School Food Report Card 2007, A State-by-State Evaluation of Food Policies in Schools
This document ranks states by their policies governing the nutritional quality of foods sold through their school’s meal plan and also through vending machines, fundraisers and à la carte options.
www.cspinet.org/2007schoolreport.pdf
Center for Science in the Public Interest, Sample Vending Contract
This vending contract between the Dallas Independent School District and the North Texas Coca-Cola Bottling Company can serve as a model for other districts interested in taking the same action.
http://cspinet.org/new/pdf/soda_contract.pdf
Center for Science in the Public Interest, Sweet Deals: School Fundraising Can Be Healthy and Profitable
This report proposes alternative, creative and healthier fundraising options for students. Some proposed fundraisers include book fairs, non-food product sales, sale of school-related items, car washes and auctions. These healthier options for fundraisers can be, in many cases, equally, if not more, profitable.
www.cspinet.org/schoolfundraising.pdf
Community Food Security Coalition (CFSC)
CFSC is an organization of social and economic justice, environmental, nutrition, sustainable agriculture, community development, labor, anti-poverty, anti-hunger and other groups. They provide a variety of training and technical assistance programs for community food projects, support the development of farm-to-school and farm-to-college initiatives, advocate for federal policies to support community food security initiatives and provide networking and educational resources.
www.foodsecurity.org
Coordinated Approach to Child Health (CATCH)
This Web site provides information about CATCH, an evidence-based Coordinated School Health Program designed to promote physical activity and healthy food choices, and prevent tobacco use in elementary school-aged children. It provides resources, tips and training.
www.catchinfo.org
Council of State Governments, School Wellness Policies, Legislator Policy Brief
This brief provides information on the need for legislator intervention in school wellness policies. For example, legislators may demand accountability from schools and help schools identify funding sources.
www.healthystates.csg.org/NR/rdonlyres/C87EB28D-B2F6-4399-B1BD-BC5617940019/0/SchoolWellnessPoliciesFINAL.pdf
Council of State Governments, Using School Nutrition to Address Obesity, Talking Points
School food policies vary widely, and many schools allow the sale of unhealthy items, such as chips and cookies. Legislators can work with food and beverage companies to find healthy snack alternatives and also can offer financial incentives to improve the availability of produce and high-quality foods in schools. These talking points outline the ways in which legislators can become involved.
www.healthystates.csg.org/NR/rdonlyres/290CC6D9-D67D-4D3B-B350-0A453699E9A1/0/SchoolWellnessSources.pdf
Farm to School
This Web site provides pertinent resources about the farm-to-school program broken down by state, including guides, reports and implementation strategies. It also includes state and local policy recommendations aimed at fixing the current school meal programs to incorporate fruits and vegetables from local farms.
www.farmtoschool.org
www.farmtoschool.org/policies.php
The Food Studies Institute, Food is Elementary
Food is Elementary is an interactive experience that educates students about the relationship between food choices and disease prevention while encouraging students’ creativity. It involves the entire community in school meals, murals and garden projects.
www.foodstudies.org
Institute Of Medicine, Nutrition Standards for Foods in Schools
This report explores the sale of and analyzes their content, nutritional value and ability to generate revenue.
http://iom.edu/CMS/3788/30181/42502.aspx
National Alliance for Nutrition and Activity, Model School Wellness Policies
These model school wellness policies call for school officials to form health councils, set standards for food and beverage sales, teach and encourage healthy eating and physical activity, provide students with physical activity opportunities and evaluate the success of their programs.
www.schoolwellnesspolicies.org
National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE), Model Policies to Encourage Healthy Eating
This site provides research-based best practice model policy language on various school health topics. The model polices were developed by NASBE in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of Adolescent and School Health and other school policy experts. States, districts and schools can adopt these model policies or adapt them to local circumstances.
www.nasbe.org/index.php/component/content/article/78-model-policies/122-policies-to-encouragehealthy-
eating
National Association of State Boards of Education, Fit, Healthy, and Ready to Learn, A School Health Policy Guide
This guide is intended to help schools create policies that promote health and prevent obesity and other chronic diseases. It calls for schools to teach students health literacy skills and encourages staff to model healthy behaviors. This guide also stresses the importance of health education courses taught by well-qualified staff.
www.nasbe.org/index.php/shs/53-shs-resources/396-fit-healthy-and-ready-to-learn-a-school-healthpolicy-
guide
National Gardening Association, Kidgardening.org
This Web site provides extensive educational and funding resources for establishing school and youth gardens.
www.kidsgardening.org
National Policy and Legal Analysis Network to Prevent Childhood Obesity, Model Vending Agreement and Model Vending Policy
The Model Healthy Beverages Vending Agreement is a tool that provides guidance for school administrators negotiating vending machine contracts. The tool recommends the use of tactics that have been shown to result in the best possible outcomes for students. The model vending policy advises schools to aggressively negotiate strong vending contracts in order to achieve three primary goals: to ensure that their wellness policies are fully implemented; to hold vendors legally accountable for their promises to provide healthy snacks; and to maximize the school’s profits.
www.nplanonline.org/nplan/products/developing-healthy-beverage-vending-agreement
National School Boards Association, Addressing School Wellness Policies 101 and Healthy Eating 101
The Addressing School Wellness Policies document provides background information on the prevalence of student obesity, guidance and policy-development tools, highlights of wellness policies in several states and additional resources related to the creation and implementation of strong wellness policies. Healthy Eating 101 provides resources on nutrition and healthy eating policies in schools.
www.nsba.org/MainMenu/SchoolHealth/101Packets/Wellness-101_1.aspx
www.nsba.org/MainMenu/SchoolHealth/101Packets/HealthyEating101.aspx
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Dietary Guidelines for Americans
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans has been published jointly by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the USDA every five years since 1980. The guidelines provide authoritative advice for people two years and older about how good dietary habits can promote health and reduce the risk for major chronic diseases. They serve as the basis for federal food and nutrition education programs. The most recent dietary guidelines were published in 2005 and an updated version will be available in 2010.
www.health.gov/DietaryGuidelines/dga2005/document/default.htm
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