Policy Legislation and Nutrition (PLAN): What Works to Improve Student Health?

The PLAN research project examines the effects of legislation that required school districts to develop nutrition and physical activity policies. Washington State Senate Bill 5436 required all public school districts to develop a nutrition and fitness policy by the start of the 2005-06 school year. In addition school districts that participate in the national USDA School Meal Program were required to have a Wellness Policy by the start of the 2006-07 school year. PLAN was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Healthy Eating Research Program.

The goals of the project were to: (1) learn about strategies used to develop local school nutrition policies, the content of the policies, and how the policies were implemented and enforced; and (2) determine how school nutrition policies relate to foods sold at school and students’ diets.

Policy Legislation & Nutrition Plus Physical Activity (PLAN+)

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s (RWJF) Active Living Research (ALR)
Program provided supplemental funds for school nutrition policy study
originally funded by RWJF’s Healthy Eating Research (HER) program. The
ALR supplement built upon the original grant by including measures of
physical activity environments and policy quality. Physical Education
teachers in participating schools were interviewed on the
implementation of their district’s fitness policy. Written policies
were scored using a national tool to assess policy quality. Policies
were also compared to state requirements.

Results are being disseminated to local school districts, staff at the state health and education agencies, policy advocates, and elected officials to support implementation of the best practices to improve student health.