Background:
The elementary school environment can be a fertile ground for establishing lifelong habits related to physical activity and healthy eating. However, in the present political and educational climate, the top priority for most school administrators is demonstrating academic achievement through standardized tests. Colorado is no exception.
A recent federal mandate, the Local Wellness Policy (LWP), was designed to increase opportunities for healthy eating and physical activity in public schools. By June 2006, school districts participating in the federal reimbursable lunch program were required to set goals about nutrition education, foods on campus, and opportunities for physical activity.
The University of Colorado’s “What’s Working” project, funded by RWJF and CDC, aims to 1) identify elementary school level environment and policy features related to healthy eating and physical activity; and 2) describe what happens at the local school building level in response to the LWP.
Objectives:
The goal of this presentation is to describe the initial impact of the LWP throughout rural, low income Colorado on physical education and recess time as well as nutrition features such as fruit and vegetable offerings and policies about foods available on campus. In addition, we will describe barriers related to principals implementing their districts’ LWPs.
Methods:
A pre/post design was used in a random sample of 45 elementary schools with at least 40% free or reduced lunch rates. LWPs had to be in place by June 2006. In fall 2005 and fall 2006, principals, physical education teachers, and foodservice managers completed a self-administered survey about policy and environment features related to physical activity and nutrition (response rates were 67% in 2005; 91% in 2006). In winter and spring of 2007, site visits were conducted to validate survey results and key informant interviews about the LWP were conducted with principals in a subset of schools (n=13 of 18 randomly selected schools).
Results:
Over half of principals sampled have not read their district’s wellness policy. However, there are some encouraging trends. In 2005, 5th graders from 27 rural schools had a weekly average of 100 (SD=51.84) minutes of PE time. This increased to 112 (sd=53.3) minutes after the LWP was put into place (p<.5, ns). Approximately 45% of rural schools have vending machines. Of those, only 42% had policies in 2005 stipulating predominantly healthy foods and beverages be offered. By 2006, that increased to 67%. A similar trend was observed for policies about foods allowed for classroom parties. Recess time remained similar pre/post LWP implementation (38 minutes in 2005 vs. 36 minutes in 2006) as did the mean number of daily fruit and vegetable offerings (2.15 vs. 2.27 servings of fruit; 3.04 vs. 3.0 servings of vegetables).
Preliminary content analysis of key informant interviews with 13 principals indicate the key barriers to the LWP having more impact are 1) principals’ lack of knowledge about the policy and its contents; 2) lack of funds to implement the policy; 3) academic achievement being a higher priority than nutrition and activity; 4) no one to “champion” the issue.
Conclusions:
The WIC Reauthorization Act’s LWP was intended to increase students’ opportunities for physical activity and healthy eating. While there are positive trends in Colorado (e.g., increased PE time; more policies about foods allowed on campus), it is unclear the extent to which these changes can be attributed to the LWP. There are several barriers: 1) most principals interviewed could not describe their LWP; 2) principals reported being given up to 50 new policies annually and not having time to review them in administrative meetings; 3) most district policies consist of value statements such as “support opportunities for activity” as opposed to mandates such as “require 150 minutes of PE”; 4) the LWP is an unfunded mandate; none of the rural schools visited had resources to implement the policy and 5) principals’ main concerns relate to academic achievement. While some principals believe that healthy eating is key to achievement (e.g., providing healthy snacks on standardized test days), they don’t necessarily set year-round policies about foods allowed on campus. Some principals are concerned that increasing recess and PE time will detract from classroom instruction and will ultimately lead to lower standardized test scores.
It remains important for researchers and policy makers to make the case for the relationship between activity and achievement. In the immediate future, stronger communication about the LWP is needed between school districts and principals. Moreover, financial resources are necessary to support schools as they work to implement the LWP.
Support:
This study was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Healthy Eating Research Program and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Research Centers Program.
