Welcome to this overview of the Wellness Policy in Action Tool or WPAT. In this module,
we will give background information on local school wellness policies,
review the elements of a local wellness policy, including the triennial assessment process, and
introduce you to a new tool that can help measure the implementation of a local wellness policy.
Local wellness policies are written documents that outline school districts' efforts around
nutrition, physical activity, and other activities that promote student health and well-being.
They were first established by the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 and then were
updated through the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. All school districts that participate in
the USDA Child Nutrition program, including the National School Lunch Program or School Breakfast
Program, are required to have a local school wellness policy. USDA has outlined a minimum
requirement for the wellness policy, but the intention is that each district will develop
a policy that reflects the needs of students and schools in the district. So one way to think of
a local wellness policy is that it is a roadmap for health and wellness efforts for the district.
All local wellness policies must include nutrition standards for school meals that
meet or exceed the USDA requirements. Nutrition standards for all foods and beverages sold during
the day that meet or exceed the Smart Snacks in School nutrition standards,
goals for nutrition education and promotion, and also goals for physical activity.
Districts get to choose what those specific goals are. Wellness policies must also describe
the nutrition standards for other foods and beverages that are available during the school
day, such as foods and beverages used as a reward or offered at school events or classroom parties.
Policies must also include language about food and beverage marketing that allows marketing and
advertising of only those foods and beverages that meet the Smart Snacks in School
nutrition standards. Districts must also allow the public to be involved in the wellness
policy development and update process. And lastly there's a requirement that at least once every
three years districts complete an assessment of the policy called triennial assessment.
According to guidance from USDA, local education agencies must conduct an assessment of the
wellness policy every three years at a minimum. This assessment should show compliance with the
wellness policy, how the wellness policy compares to model wellness policies,
and progress made in attaining the goals of the wellness policy.
School districts should be ready to share this documentation with their state agency.
So how can school districts measure wellness policy implementation?
Some state agencies and school districts have created templates for school districts to use,
but previously there was no national tool to help districts and schools assess the
relationship between district-level policies and school-level practices.
Recognizing this gap, CDC worked with the University of Connecticut Rudd Center to create an
online assessment that helps districts and schools with this process using two existing online
assessment tools the WellSAT 3.0, which assesses the strength of district wellness policies,
and the CDC School Health Index, which helps schools assess their school health practices.
The new tool is called the Wellness Policy in Action Tool or WPAT. This tool can help districts
understand if the wellness policy is consistently implemented in schools across the district and
determine if schools are already implementing practices that could be incorporated into the
district policy. Schools can use WPAT to see how their school nutrition and physical activity
practices align with their district's local school wellness policy. This information can help schools
identify where implementation plans are needed to ensure that practices are consistent with
current policies, share current practices that can be incorporated into the district policy,
and identify opportunities for new nutrition and physical activity practices to work toward.
In the next few modules, we will take a closer look at the WPAT, including how to create an
account, how to complete the assessment, and how to interpret and use the results.