School Wellness Environments: Perceptions Versus Realities

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Final Rule on School Wellness Policy requires schools to self-evaluate wellness policies and environments. To understand the utility of this information, this study evaluates the validity of school-reported wellness information against directly observed data. Wellness leaders at 10 Midwestern elementary schools completed a questionnaire spanning nine school wellness settings. School-reported information was compared against a direct observation protocol. Percent agreement and κ statistics were used to assess agreement between school reporters and direct observation. Overall percent agreement between reporters and direct observation was 77.1%. Agreement ranged from 67.3% (Lunchroom Environment) to 92.0% (School Wellness Policies) across the nine categories. κ results showed that 65.7% of the items demonstrated fair or better reporter agreement. The results provide preliminary support for the utility of schools’ self-reported wellness information. Facilitation of independent reporting on wellness environments by school leaders will contribute to broader applications for school wellness programming.