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BACKGROUND:We examined written language in Wisconsin school wellness policies (SWPs) for federal mandate compliance, quality related to obesity prevention, and school characteristics associated with variations in quality. This is the first near census of Wisconsin SWPs and examines whether adhering to federal mandates results in strong policies aimed at preventing pediatric obesity. METHODS:Policies were coded using the WellSAT 2.0. Policy quality was computed as comprehensiveness and strength based on 6 subscales and 2 overall scores. Variations in policy quality were examined by district size, free/reduced lunch percentage, and year of last revision. RESULTS:We received SWPs from 91% of districts. Six of the 8 federal mandates were addressed by the majority of districts, although less than one fourth addressed all. Most comprehensiveness scores were weak to moderate, and strength scores were weak. All school characteristics were significantly related to overall policy quality; effect sizes were small. CONCLUSIONS:Our results confirm the necessity of statewide focus on SWP improvement and suggest that while districts may be meeting federal mandates related to pediatric obesity, few policies include health promotion practices beyond those required. Policies remain fragmented and lack focus on obesity prevention practices; we identify modifiable areas for improvement.

School settings can influence child health, including physical activity and diet, through the promotion of high-quality wellness policies. Many studies have analyzed the quality of school wellness policies, but evidence is lacking regarding the dissemination of the policy evaluation results to school districts. This study describes the process the Wisconsin Health Atlas followed to disseminate tailored school wellness policy data reports and interactive dashboards to school districts throughout the state and the results of the statewide dissemination efforts. Prioritizing the translation of research to practice, the process included collaborating with key stakeholders and partners to provide formative feedback on the dissemination activities. The electronic and hard copy reports were disseminated to 232 districts through email and U.S. mail. Each district received a tailored report featuring an executive summary, local data for action, personalized policy recommendations, best practices, and a unique code to enter into interactive data dashboards to explore additional local, regional, and state-level data. In the utilization follow-up survey (20.3% response rate), respondents indicated that the report will help their district to improve the quality of their school wellness policy. Additionally, respondents who had used the report specified they used the data to identify areas for policy improvement and to support their triennial assessment, suggesting that districts value the technical support. To support school districts in improving the quality of school wellness policies, we recommend researchers prioritize collaborative dissemination efforts and provide actionable policy data when conducting school wellness policy evaluations.

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