DOI: 10.3886/icpsr36528
title: Bridging the Gap/National Wellness Policy Study District Wellness Policy-Related Dataset, School Years 2006-2007 through 2013-2014
title: Archival Version

description: 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.
description: District non-response adjusted weights for inference to districts nationwide are stored in the variable distnrwgt_d.
description: Response Rates: A 94 percent response rate was achieved for school years 2006-07, 2007-08, 2010-11, and 2013-14; a 95 percent response rate was achieved for school years 2011-12 and 2012-13; and a 97 percent response rate was achieved for school years 2008-09 and 2009-10.
description: All school districts included in the Bridging the Gap Food and Fitness Survey (including districts with non-responding schools) and supplementary districts that include secondary schools so that the data are representative to districts nationwide at each grade level of interest.

Additional information about the sampling design is available in the following publications:

Chriqui JF, Schneider L, Chaloupka FJ, Ide K and Pugach O. Local Wellness Policies: Assessing School District Strategies for Improving Children's Health. School Years 2006-07 and 2007-08. Chicago, IL: Bridging the Gap Program, Health Policy Center, Institute for Health Research and Policy, University of Illinois at Chicago, 2009,
www.bridgingthegapresearch.org.


Chriqui JF, Schneider L, Chaloupka FJ, Gourdet C, Bruursema A, Ide K and Pugach O. School District Wellness Policies: Evaluating Progress and Potential for Improving Children's Health Three Years after the Federal Mandate. School Years 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2008-09. Vol. 2. Chicago, IL: Bridging the Gap Program, Health Policy Center, Institute for Health Research and Policy, University of Illinois at Chicago,
2010, www.bridgingthegapresearch.org.


Chriqui JF, Resnick EA, Schneider L, Schermbeck R, Adcock T, Carrion V, Chaloupka FJ. School District Wellness Policies: Evaluating Progress and Potential for Improving Children's Health Five Years after the Federal Mandate. School Years 2006-07 through 2010-11. Volume 3. Chicago, IL: Bridging the Gap Program, Health Policy Center,
Institute for Health Research and Policy, University of Illinois at Chicago, 2013, www.bridgingthegapresearch.org.


Piekarz E, Schermbeck R, Young SK, Leider J, Ziemann M, Chriqui JF. School District Wellness Policies: Evaluating Progress and Potential for Improving Children's Health Eight Years after the Federal Mandate. School Years 2006-07 through 2013-14. Volume 4. Chicago, IL: Bridging
the Gap Program and the National Wellness Policy Study, Institute for Health Research and Policy, University of Illinois at Chicago, 2016,
www.go.uic.edu/NWPSproducts.
description: Datasets: 
DS1: Bridging the Gap/National Wellness Policy Study District Wellness Policy-Related Dataset, School Years 2006-2007 through 2013-2014
description: All public school districts in the U.S. Smallest Geographic Unit: Census region
description: Project staff obtained hard copies of written policies which were obtained by internet research and direct communication with districts. Project staff coded the policies separately for their applicability at the elementary, middle, and high school levels.Additional information about this study is available on the Bridging the Gap website.