FAQ

Unfortunately, WellSAT 2.0 has been retired and can no longer be accessed. If you used the WellSAT 3.0 tool, all of your data are still accessible from this website. On your Dashboard, click on the "Copy v3 Policy" button. Then, select the policy that you want to copy from the dropdown menu.

First time users can expect to spend approximately 45 minutes scoring a wellness policy; however, users who score more than one policy and become familiar with scoring instructions typically complete the survey in approximately 30 minutes.

The assessment "times out" after leaving it inactive for one hour; however, your work will not be lost. If your assessment has timed out, you will need to sign in again.

Yes! When you sign in to return to an existing survey, you will be taken to the page where you left off.

Several items address policies around "competitive foods." Competitive foods are foods sold outside of USDA school meals. This includes food and beverages sold a la carte in the cafeteria, from vending machines or school stores and any other sources on school premises. Competitive foods are often referred to as "Smart Snacks in Schools"

As of school year 2014-15, all foods and beverages sold outside of school meal programs during the school day are required to meet the USDA Smart Snacks in School nutrition standards. More information on Smart Snacks can be found here: https://www.fns.usda.gov/school-meals/tools-schools-focusing-smart-snacks

At times, an entire policy may be listed as a series of goals. In this case, each item would be coded only as "recommended/suggested," and not "required," because they are simply goals.

Example 1: The following would be coded as a 1.

The wellness goals of [district name] are as follows:

• to provide nutrition education to all students;
• to offer physical activity breaks during the school day; and
• to participate in the National School Lunch Program and ensure meals meet USDA nutrition standards.

If instead, a policy provides an overarching goal with additional action steps that must be followed, each action step will be coded as it is written.

Example 2: The following would be coded as a 2.

The wellness goal of [district name] is to provide nutrition education that is fully integrated into the curriculum. We will:

• provide a comprehensive nutrition education curriculum at all grade levels;
• include nutrition education as part of math, reading, and other subject areas; and
• train teachers to incorporate nutrition education into other lesson plans.

You will receive a personalized "scorecard" containing details of how well the district policy you coded scored on each section of the survey. After receiving the scorecard, celebrate the strengths you identified. Next, visit our resources section for guidance about how to work on areas that are weak.

It is important to communicate that the scores should not be interpreted like letter grades. We tested this tool in a sample of 50 school districts around the country and the average comprehensiveness score was 54 and the average strength score was 33. It will be useful to put the policy scores in this context when you provide feedback to the district. If you're coding a number of policies in the same state, it may also be helpful to compare each district to the average for the state. You can find the distribution and mean scores for each item in our national sample of 50 policies here.

You will need to create a new assessment for each school you will be assessing. Put the name of the school in the name of your assessment so that you can easily identify it from your Dashboard. If you have already scored the district’s policy, you can copy the WellSAT Policy scores to your school assessment by selecting the appropriate assessment from the “Select Policy to Copy From” dropdown menu when you create the new assessment. Repeat this process for each school whose practices you are assessing.

The Centers for Disease Control has created an online self-assessment and planning tool called the School Health Index. This tool can be found on the CDC website. The SHI reflects the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child Model, so it includes components that go beyond the scope of this version of the WellSAT. The CDC also offers the Wellness Policy Action Tool (WPAT) which can compare specific WellSAT and SHI responses.