Making School Wellness Easy From Assessment to Action

Making School Wellness Easy: From Assessment to Action Planning to Certification Hannah Laughlin, MPH, Action for Healthy Kids Introduction Results In 2014, Action for Healthy Kids (AFHK) adopted the nutrition, physical activity, and cross-cutting components of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 2014 School Health Index as a complimentary evaluation tool for their school wellness initiatives. Schools that complete the AFHK modified School Health Index are provided a customized report on their areas of strength and opportunities for improvement. weakness. Schools are then walked through the AFHK process of action planning and provided resources to help them work towards national healthy schools certification through the USDA’s Healthier. US Schools Challenge. Preliminary analysis of the AFHK modified SHI data (including only nutrition, physical activity and cross-cutting questions) of 651 schools indicate how schools are aligning with SHI questions and total possible module scores: SHI Total Score 80 350 70 300 60 250 50 200 40 Average Score 30 20 Total Possible Score 10 The AFHK modified online School Health Index report is a self-assessment and planning guide that will enable schools to: • Build a school health team • Identify the strengths and areas of opportunity for school’s policies and programs for promoting health and wellness • Develop an customized action plan for improving health and wellness initiatives to work towards healthy schools certification • Allow districts to answer district-level questions to minimize workload for individual schools Once all SHI modules are complete, schools will receive a customized action plan that provides them with easy steps they can take and AFHK resources to support these actions with a goal of becoming certified as a healthy school through the USDA’s Healthier. US Schools Challenge program. 100 50 0 0 Methods 150 Mod 1 Mod 2 Mod 3 Mod 4 Mod 5 Mod 6 Mod 7 Mod 8 Highest Possible Score Average Score Data from the portal will be available in aggregate format to school districts and state level agencies for evaluation and improvements to school health practices, policies and systems. Discussion Utilizing an online technology platform, AFHK is helping schools assess and evaluate their school wellness environment and develop action plans for improvements that can be aggregated into district and state level reports to ensure improvement on a larger scale. In addition, schools assessment and action plan results will help them determine their readiness to apply for the Healthier. US Schools Challenge. AFHK will offer further technical assistance support to schools as they navigate the certification process as needed in an effort to reach the Every Kid Healthy goal of all 130, 000 U. S. schools certified as providing healthy foods, quality health and physical education, and comprehensive physical activity for all students by 2030.