Triennial Wellness Policy Assessment: How to Guide

A strong school wellness policy does more than check a compliance box, it helps create a healthier, more supportive environment where students can thrive. Every three years, districts have an opportunity to take a closer look at how their Local School Wellness Policy works in practice, celebrate progress, and identify meaningful areas for growth. This guide is designed to walk you through the Triennial Wellness Policy Assessment process step by step, making it manageable, collaborative, and impactful for your entire school community.

What it is and why this matters

A Local School Wellness Policy (LSWP) is a written document that guides the Local Educational Agency's (LEA) efforts to establish and maintain a school environment that promotes student health, well-being and ability to learn.

School districts participating in federal child nutrition program are required by federal law to establish, implement, and assess their LSWP every 3 years, at a minimum. This Triennial Assessment process ensures the policy is strong, being implemented as intended, and aligned with best practices.

The Triennial Assessment process measures:

• The extent to which each school under the policy is following the LSWP
• The extent to which the LSWP compares to a model wellness policy
• A description of progress in wellness policy goal attainment

Step by Step Guide

1. Gather your team: You Triennial Assessment team should include, when possible, the district wellness committee members, administrators, food service staff, teachers, parents/community members, and students. A coordinator should be assigned to lead the process.
2. Collect documentation: Your assessment team will need a copy of your current wellness policy, the previous Triennial Assessment (if available), and evidence of implementation (programs, meeting notes, data, etc.).
3. Assess your policy: Visit the WellSAT website to create a free login. The "policy" tool is used to evaluate the overall strength and comprehensiveness of the language within your policy by comparing it to a model policy. If you prefer to use a hard copy of the WellSAT policy tool, you can find it here.
4. Assess your practice: To assess the extent to which each school under the policy is following the LSWP, complete with WellSAT Practice tool. Once you have logged in at the WellSAT website, click "Practice" under the edit column. Complete the WellSAT Practice tool by gathering responses from those best suited to answer each question for your district. You may need to consult school administrators, food service directors, health and PE teachers, etc. A hard copy of the WellSAT Policy tool can be found here.
5. Identify strengths and areas for improvement: Review your WellSAT Policy and Practice scorecards together. Pay close attention to the Federal Regulations section of each scorecard, as these items must be included in your policy and practices must be in place. Highlight any items that are written into your policy (score of 1 or 2 on WellSAT Policy) but are not being practiced (score of 0 on WellSAT Practice.) Work with your team to update your written policy based on your findings.
6. Summarize your scores: After you complete the WellSAT Policy and Practice tools, you will have access to Triennial Assessment prompts that allow you to create a narrative that describes your district's findings through this process. You will be able to include any plans for improvement in policy and/or practices.
7. Share your assessment results with the public (required): You are required to inform and update the public about your wellness policy, progress towards goals, and the Triennial Assessment results. You can do this in a variety of ways, like posting on the district website, including links in the school newsletter, presenting to the school board, etc.

Frequently asked questions:

Q: When is the Triennials Assessment due?

A: This depends on when the last assessment was completed. Remember, the Triennial Assessment must be completed, at minimum, every 3 years. If you last completed the Triennial Assessment in June 2023, you would need to complete another by June 2026.

Q: What do I do with the completed Triennial Assessment?

A: It must be shared with the public, as stated above. You can decide how best to do this for your district. Additionally, you must keep this documentation on file as it will be needed during an Administrative Review of the School Nutrition Programs. The NH Department of Education may also request your policy and assessment report by submitted as part of the wellness information portion of the National School Lunch Program application process.

Resources:

• Triennial Assessment Guidance
• WellSAT Policy
• WellSAT Practice
• Model Wellness Policy
• About WellSAT

For additional support on your Triennial Assessment, please reach out to Laura Alimayu.