Bridging the Gap/National Wellness Policy Study District Wellness Policy-Related Dataset, School Years 2006-2007 through 2013-2014

Beginning with the school year 2006-07, the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 required school districts participating in the National School Lunch Program or other child nutrition programs to adopt and implement a wellness policy. The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 continued and strengthened this requirement. This study was intended to provide detailed insight into the contents of the congressionally-mandated district wellness policies for school years 2006-07 (first year of the mandate) through 2013-14 (last year of funding-supported data collection). The data file contains coded information about the required wellness policy components, along with other components that are known to contribute to student health and wellness: nutrition education; standards for USDA child nutrition programs and school meals; nutrition standards for competitive and other foods and beverages; physical education; physical activity; staff wellness and modelling; stakeholder involvement; messaging, marketing and promotion; evaluation; and reporting. There is a separate record in the data file for each district, grade level (elementary, middle and high school) and school year combination.