Triennial Assessment

Watch the following video to learn more about the triennial assessment of local school wellness policies.

 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Final Rule: Local School Wellness Policy Implementation Under the HHFKA of 2010 requires that each local educational agency (LEA participating in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and School Breakfast Program (SBP) must complete an assessment of their local school wellness policy (LSWP) at least once every three years. This document assists LEAs with meeting the USDA’s triennial assessment requirements.


 

 

Step 1: Complete the WellSAT 3.0

 

The WellSAT 3.0 is a quantitative coding system to score wellness policies. Policies are given two scores – one for comprehensiveness, and one for strength. Comprehensiveness scores show how many topics the policy addresses overall, while strength show how many topics are addressed in a required, specific manner in the policy.

Watch the following video for information on how to complete this step of the assessment.

Time Needed:

 

  • 1-2 hours depending on the policy's length and complexity

 

Staff Needed:

 

  • Chair and members of the district wellness committee (contact the superintendent's office for a list of wellness committee members).

 

Materials Needed:

 

  • District's LSWP and associated local procedures/regulations
  • The WellSAT 3.0 (found on this website)


Part A: Complete the WellSAT 3.0:

 

Print the district's LSWP and associated local procedures/regulations. Most districts post their policies on their website. For tips on how to find your policy, review the "How to Find Your Policy" video at www.wellsat.org (under "About the WellSAT") or at https://youtu.be/HJZXSltE5SU.

When you've completed the online WellSAT 3.0, print out or save your scoresheet. Completed scoresheets should look like the below. 

scorecard image

Part B: Check Written Policy for Compliance with Federal Requirements

 

Check your scorecard for the federal requirements (indicated by the Capitol building icon ). Highlight any items missing from your written policy (i.e., score of "0"). 

 


Step 2: Complete the WellSAT-I

Watch the following video for information on how to complete this step of the assessment.

 

 

Time Needed:

 

  • 3-4 hours depending on the number of people interviewed

 

Staff Needed:

 

  • District wellness committee members as interviewers
  • Interviewees: Food service director; district-level official; head of curriculum; health/nutrition education teacher; school principal; physical education teacher; classroom teacher

 

Materials Needed

 

  • WellSAT-I tool (found on this website, available after scoring WellSAT 3.0).

 

Part A: Complete the WellSAT-I

1. Once you have logged in to the WellSAT website, click the "Complete/Edit WellSAT-I" link next to your policy's name. Determine who is best suited to answer each question in your district.

 

  • All federally required practices are noted with a Capitol building icon .
  • Items with a school icon are typically answered at the school level.
  • All other items: Answer at either the district or school level, based on your district's structure.

 

2. Complete the WellSAT-I tool, interviewing the relevant personnel for each item.

 

  • View your scorecard.


Part B: Check whether practices comply with federal requirements and your policy

 

1. Check your scorecard for the federal requirements (indicated by the Capitol building icon ). Highlight any practices that are not currently in place (i.e., score of "0").

2. Look at your WellSAT 3.0 and WellSAT-I scores side by side. Highlight any practices that are written into your policy (i.e., score of 1 or 2), but are not in place in practice (i.e., score of 0).

 

 

 

Step 3: Identify Connections between Policy and Practice

Watch the following videos for information on how to complete this step of the assessment.

 

 

Time Needed:

 

  • 15 minutes

 

Staff Needed:

 

  • District wellness committee members, including the member who entered the WellSAT 3.0 and WellSAT-I scores online

 

Materials Needed

 

  • Your district's combined WellSAT 3.0 and WellSAT-I scorecard

 

Compare your WellSAT 3.0 and WellSAT-I Scores

 

Locate the text at the top of the scorecard (under the outcome icons) that reads, "If you would like a scorecard that sorts the items by outcome, click here." Click the checkbox. Print out or save the combined scorecard. With the rest of your district wellness committee, examine the items in each section.

WellSAT 3.0 Score WellSAT-I Score Comparison Outcome
2 2
Strong Policies and Aligned Practices
District has a strong policy and is fully implementing practicces that align with the policy
1 0
Create Practice Implementation Plan
District has a strong or weak policy, but practice implementation is either absent or limited
2 1 or 0
0 or 1 2
Update Policies
District is fully implementing a practice but there is no or only weak language in the written policy, or the district is partially implementing practices and there is no language in the policy
0 0 or 1
Opportunities for Growth
District has either not addressed the topic in policy or practice; or has only addressed the topic in a very limited way
1 1
Items that are federally required are listed first in each section.


 


Step 4: Summarize and Share your Findings

 Watch the following video for information on how to complete this step of the assessment.

 

Time Needed:

 

  • 1-2 hours

 

Staff Needed:

 

  • District wellness committee members

 

Materials Needed:

 

 

Writing Narratives to Accompany your Scoresheets:

 

  • Use Worksheet 4 to write narratives to share the findings from each section of your scorecard.

 

Materials to Share:

 

We recommend sharing all of the materials described below. However, please see instructions from your State Department of Education concerning posting requirements in your state. 

  • You can post your completed WellSAT 3.0 scorecard to document that you have compared your policy to a model policy.
  • You can post the section called Strong Policies and Aligned Practices (from the first section of your combined scorecard) along with the corresponding narrative (from Worksheet 4: Section 1) to document your district's areas of strength in both policy and practice.
  • You can post the section called Create Practice Implementation Plans (from the second section of your combined scorecard) along with the corresponding narrative (from Worksheet 4: Section 2) to document the elements of your written policy that are not yet fully implemented.
  • You can post items from the section called Update Policies (from the third section of your combined scorecard) along with the corresponding narrative (from Worksheet 4: Section 3) to document practices your district has in place that can be added to your written policy.
  • You can post items from the section called Opportunities for Growth (from the last section of your combined scorecard) along with the corresponding narrative (from Worksheet 4: Section 4) to document your district's future wellness goals.