BACKGROUND: In 2015, the US Department of Agriculture set minimum education and training requirements (ie, professional standards) to ensure that school nutrition professionals have the knowledge and experience to operate school meal programs. No study to date has examined whether hiring requirements and qualifications of school food authority (SFA) directors have changed since 2015. OBJECTIVE: To assess changes in hiring requirements and qualifications of SFA directors since the US Department of Agriculture professional standards were established, overall and by district size. DESIGN: Cross-sectional analysis of nationally representative district-level data from the 2012 and 2016 cycles of the School Health Policies and Practices Study. PARTICIPANTS/SETTING: In 2012, 660 sampled districts completed the School Health Policies and Practices Study Nutrition Services questionnaire. In 2016, 599 sampled districts completed the questionnaire. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Hiring requirements for newly hired SFA directors and reported qualifications of SFA directors. STATISTICAL ANALYSES PERFORMED: Differences in prevalence estimates from 2012 to 2016 for all districts and by district size were assessed with χ(2) tests. RESULTS: Significant increases were found for 3 hiring requirements: degree in nutrition or related field, registered dietitian credential, and food safety certification. Significant changes in 4 of the 5 reported qualifications were found including an increase in the percentage of district directors with a degree in nutrition or a related field and decreases in the percentage of directors with a School Nutrition Specialist credential from the School Nutrition Association, School Nutrition Association certifications, and certified dietary managers. Changes were found in small and medium districts, but not large districts. CONCLUSIONS: District hiring requirements and SFA director qualifications have changed since the implementation of the US Department of Agriculture professional standards, including some differences by district size. Future research could identify challenges facing districts in hiring directors who have a degree in nutrition or related fields or who have specialized nutrition credentials or certificates (eg, registered dietitians).

It is unknown how health services staff (school nurse or school physician) or school characteristics are associated with the number of services provided for chronic health conditions in schools. Using data from the 2014 School Health Policies and Practices Study, four services (identification or school-based management, tracking, case management, and referrals) were analyzed using a multivariable ordered logistic regression. Approximately 57.2% of schools provided all four, 17.5% provided three, 10.1% provided two, 5.8% provided one, and 9.4% did not provide any such services. Schools with a school nurse were 51.5% (p < .001) more likely to provide all four, and schools with access to consult with a school physician were 15.4% (p < .05) more likely, compared to schools without one. Schools comprised of mostly racial/ethnic minority students (less than or equal to 50% non-Hispanic White) were 14.7% (p < .05) less likely to provide all four, compared to schools with greater than 50% White students.

Studies have shown links between educational outcomes such as letter grades, test scores, or other measures of academic achievement, and health-related behaviors. However, as reported in a 2013 systematic review, many of these studies have used samples that are not nationally representative, and quite a few studies are now at least 2 decades old (1). To update the relevant data, CDC analyzed results from the 2015 national Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), a biennial, cross-sectional, school-based survey measuring health-related behaviors among U.S. students in grades 9-12. Analyses assessed relationships between academic achievement (i.e., self-reported letter grades in school) and 30 health-related behaviors (categorized as dietary behaviors, physical activity, sedentary behaviors, substance use, sexual risk behaviors, violence-related behaviors, and suicide-related behaviors) that contribute to leading causes of morbidity and mortality among adolescents in the United States (5). Logistic regression models controlling for sex, race/ethnicity, and grade in school found that students who earned mostly A's, mostly B's, or mostly C's had statistically significantly higher prevalence estimates for most protective health-related behaviors and significantly lower prevalence estimates for most health-related risk behaviors than did students with mostly D's/F's. These findings highlight the link between health-related behaviors and education outcomes, suggesting that education and public health professionals can find their respective education and health improvement goals to be mutually beneficial. Education and public health professionals might benefit from collaborating to achieve both improved education and health outcomes for youths.