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APPENDIX
C
RESEARCH
ISSUES AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Appendix C
Table C-1. Year 3 Research
Issues and Questions for State Child Nutrition Director survey
Issue
|
Question
|
Section
A:
Administrative
Review Process
|
How
many states completed (by March 31, 2014) menu reviews using
Option 1, 2, 3 or the Menu
Planning Tool for Certification for Six Cent Reimbursement?
Of those using Option 1 or Option 3, how many had Nutrient
Analyses conducted by state agency staff? How many of the
reviews conducted under Option 3 were successfully validated?
How
many SFAs in the state received a Resource Management
Comprehensive Review? Of these, how many were conducted due to
failure to complete the Resource Management Risk indicator at
least 4 weeks prior to the onsite review?
How
many abbreviated Special Provision Option reviews were conducted
(when a school was not selected for an SPO review in a non-base
year)?
Among
schools selected for Administrative Review and operating an
Afterschool Snack Program (ASP), how many onsite reviews were
conducted?
How
many dollars did states assess the Fiscal Actions (FA) designed
to recover overpayments? How many overclaims were disregarded
using the $600 disregard of overclaim provision?
How
many SFAs in the state appealed findings from the new
Administrative Review process? How many of these had had
findings resulting in Fiscal Actions?
In
how many states did findings based on the State’s Meal
Access and Reimbursement Performance Standard 1 increase or
decrease under the new Administrative Review process?
How
many SFA reviews of students’ certification and benefit
issuance documentation were conducted through a census of all
free and reduced price eligible students? A sampling method at
the 95% confidence level? The 99% confidence level?
How
do states rate the new Administrative Review process? What is
the most important recommendation they would make to FNS on the
new Administrative Review process?
|
Section
B: Resources and Finances
State
subsidies to SFAs
|
Does
the state provide financial resources for school meals to SFAs
in the form of per-meal subsidies? What was the total amount
given?
Does
the state provide support for any other aspects of the school
food service operation?
|
Budget
issues
|
Do
states have adequate staffing resources for monitoring?
Have
states been able to fully-use Federal funds provided to
administer the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and School
Breakfast Program (SBP)? What challenges have impeded state’s
ability to fully-use Federal funds? What actions impacted
states’ ability to fully-use Federal funds?
Did
states request funding reallocation for 2012-13? If not, what
was the primary reason for not requesting reallocation?
|
Section
C: Operational Procedures
Provision
2/3
|
|
Food
service management companies
|
|
Charter
schools
|
How
many charter schools are participating in the SBP and/or NSLP?
For
purposes of school food operations, are charter schools treated
as a separate SFA, as part of an existing SFA, or a combination
of both? Does this vary by state?
|
USDA
Foods
|
Do
states allow SFAs to order from the full list of USDA foods? How
do states obtain feedback from SFAs regarding which USDA Foods
to offer?
How
do SFAs submit their requests for specific quantities of USDA
Foods?
How
often can SFAs order USDA Foods?
|
Reallocation
of unused entitlement
|
Do
states review SFA cooperative purchasing agreements or GPO
contracts prior to their execution? If so, under what
circumstances?
Do
states have prototype procurement documents or model contracts
for SFAs, cooperatives, or GPOs can use when contracting
services? If so, under what circumstances is use of these
procurement documents or model contracts mandatory?
|
Section
D:
State
Data Systems
|
How
are these systems linked to SFAs, schools or other sites (e.g.,
online, web-based, encrypted vs. unencrypted email)?
Who
developed the systems (e.g., a vendor, state child nutrition IT
staff, other state IT staff)? What was the primary funding
source?
|
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Table C-2. Year 3 Research
Issues and Questions for SFA Director Survey
Issue
|
Question
|
Section
1: School Participation
|
How
many schools participate in SBP and/or NSLP? How many schools
participate in the NSLP Afterschool Snack Program or the At-Risk
Supper Program?
How
many schools participating in SBP are eligible for severe need
reimbursement? How many schools are participating in NSLP as
high need?
|
Section
2: Student Participation
|
What
percentage of students are certified for free or reduced-price
meals?
What
percentage of students do not have access to the SBP or NSLP?
What
was the average daily attendance for students?
How
many breakfast and lunch serving days were in the 2013-2014
school year?
|
Section
3: Food Service Operations
Special
Provision Options
|
|
Application
Processing
|
What
is the primary format of the system parents use to apply for
free or reduced-price meals certification?
With
what other systems are application processing systems
integrated?
Who
developed the application processing systems?
What
percentage of districts determine eligibility with an automated
system?
What
percentage of districts use standardized criteria to identify
applications for verification for cause?
|
Section
4: Cooperative Purchasing
|
What
percentage of SFAs use management companies or cooperative
purchasing agreements for procurement? What percentage pay fees?
In
what ways do SFAs oversee the execution of contracts or
cooperative agreements?
What
percentage of SFAs have an advisory council? What percentage of
advisory councils gather information from SFAs to inform their
decision-making processes?
What
percentage of advisory councils elect members? On average, how
long are council members’ terms?
|
Section
5: New Meal Pattern Requirements
General
Implementation
Nutrient
Requirements
Purchasing
Changes
Implementation
Assistance
|
How
challenging has it been to continue to implement the meal
patterns?
Has
plate waste changed as a result of the new patterns? What are
the reasons for the change?
How
challenging has it been for SFAs to meet the new nutrition
standards for breakfast?
What
changes have taken place in serving fruit and vegetables at
breakfast or lunch because of the new meal patterns?
How
difficult has it been for SFAs to meet the 50 percent whole
grain-rich requirements at breakfast or lunch?
What
proportion of SFAs have difficulty meeting minimum calorie
requirements or not exceeding maximum calorie requirements for
grade-age groups?
What
is the current average daily sodium content of meals served?
What
practices will SFAs use to meet sodium targets?
What
adjustments have SFAs made to meet student requests for
additional food?
What
proportion of SFAs have changed the types and amounts of USDA
Foods ordered to implement the new meal patterns?
Which
vegetable groups do SFAs have difficulty purchasing? What are
the reasons for the difficulty?
For
which meal components do SFAs use USDA Foods to meet the new
meal pattern requirements?
How
many SFAs use the USDA sharing website?
What
percentage of SFAs are certified for the additional 6 cents per
lunch reimbursement? What are the reasons SFAs have not
submitted materials for the additional reimbursement?
|
Section
6: Meal Prices
|
What
is the average price charged for full-price, reduced-price, and
adult breakfasts and lunches for the current school year?
What
actions did SFAs take in response to the paid lunch equity
provision?
What
non-Federal revenue sources did SFAs use to mitigate potential
price increases in paid meals?
What
was the weighted average price of paid NSLP meals in the current
school year?
How
many SFAs have increased a la carte prices over the past year?
For what types of foods have prices increased? How much have
prices increased?
|
Section
7: Revenues and Expenditures
|
|
Section
8: Farm to School Activities
|
What
percentage of SFAs participated in Farm to School activities in
the 2012-2013 school year? How many schools participated in Farm
to School activities? How many schools had edible gardens?
What
food items do SFAs purchase locally?
How
often do districts’ meals or snacks include components
purchased locally?
What
were total food costs in the 2012-2013 school year? What were
total food costs excluding USDA Foods and DoD Fresh?
What
percentage of food purchases were spent on locally sourced
foods, including and excluding milk?
What
proportion of SFAs might increase or decrease their local
purchases for the 2014-2015 school year?
|
Section
9: Food Safety
|
In
which locations are foods served to students?
Who
serves food to students?
What
percentage of SFAs allow outside groups to use SFA kitchens
without school nutrition staff oversight?
What
percentage of SFAs have a health and hygiene policy for school
nutrition employees? When may employees return to work after
symptoms of vomiting or diarrhea?
What
proportion of SFAs offer paid sick leave to full- and part-time
school nutrition employees?
How
many SFAs have been investigated as part of a foodborne illness
outbreak? What are sources of outbreaks?
|
Section
10: Smarter Lunchrooms
|
What
proportion of SFA directors have heard of the Smarter Lunchrooms
Movement?
What
percentage of SFAs have school nutrition staff who have received
Smarter Lunchrooms training?
Approximately
how many schools in each SFA are implementing various Smarter
Lunchroom strategies? How many were using at least one strategy
in the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 school years?
|
File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
Author | Kim Standing |
File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
File Created | 2021-01-28 |