Appendix A Research Issues and Research Questions

APPENDIX A

RESEARCH ISSUES AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Appendix A

Table 1. CNOPS-II Research Issues and Questions for the State Child Nutrition Director Survey

Issue	Question
Section 1: Food Service Administration Alternative Provisions	How many schools operate under Provision 2, Provision 3, and Community Eligibility Provision (CEP)? How long have the schools operated under the CEP? How many schools operate in the School Breakfast Program (SBP) only, or both SBP and the National School Lunch Program (NSLP)?
Charter Schools	What is the increase in charter schools operating in NSLP and SBP?
Section 2: Professional Standards Training and Technical Assistance	What types of training and technical assistance are provided? What sources of training and technical assistance are used? Who is meeting the professional standards requirements for training? Which hiring standards are being used? How are State Agency Child Nutrition Directors tracking, or how do they anticipate tracking, annual continuing education/training requirements?
	What differences do States experience with residential child care institutions that impact their ability to comply with professional standards requirements? What difficulties do States experience with charter schools that impact compliance with professional standards requirements?
Section 3: State Child Nutrition Director Background	Which hiring standards are being used?

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Table 2. CNOPS-II Research Issues and Questions for the School Food Authority (SFA) Director Survey

Issue	Question
Section 1: School Participation NSLP and SBP Participation Rates	How many schools participate in the School Breakfast Program (SBP) and/or National School Lunch Program (NSLP)? How many elementary, middle, and high schools participate in SBP and/or NSLP? How has school participation changed over time?
CACFP and SFSP	How many schools participate in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), Afterschool At-Risk Supper Program, and Summer Food Service Program (SFSP)? What are non-participating schools’ intentions to participate for CACFP and SFSP? What are schools doing to build awareness and promote CACFP and SFSP?
Section 2: Student Participation NSLP and SBP Participation Rates and Meals Served	How many students participate in SBP and/or NSLP? How many students in elementary, middle, and high schools participate in SBP and/or NSLP? How many SBP and NSLP meals were served? How many SBP and NSLP meals were served in elementary, middle, and high schools? How has student participation and the number of meals served changed over time?
Section 3: Meal Prices	What is the average price charged for full-price, reduced-price, and adult meals for the current school year? How have meal prices changed over time?
Section 4: Food Service Operations Alternative Provisions	How many schools are operating under Provision 2, Provision 3, and the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) for NSLP only, SBP only, and both NSLP and SBP? How long have the schools operated under the provision? Does the district have schools eligible for CEP? Does the district group schools to participate in the CEP? What are reasons for non-participation in CEP?
Section 5: Eligibility Determination and Verification	What technology is used for eligibility determination and verification? What is the relative number of children directly certified during the year compared to those directly certified at the start of the school year? Is direct verification used? Do SFAs use verification for cause? What are the reasons that prompt districts to verify for cause? How do the distribution of verification for cause outcomes compare to outcomes for other verified applications? Do SFAs follow-up with households that did not respond to initial requests for verification documentation? Does the district accept emailed copies of verification documentation? Do SFAs use rolling verification as applications are certified, rather than all at once in October? What challenges do SFAs face in matching enrolled students to household participation in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations?
Section 6: Financial Management Financial Management	What difficulties have SFAs experienced in monitoring costs paid out of the nonprofit school food service account? What is the role of the business manager in making decisions that impact the nonprofit school food service account? What creates an inability at the SFA level to separate costs and revenue for purposes of measuring compliance with the non-program revenue requirement?
Financial Recovery of Overdue Lunch Monies	What alternative meal policies are used for children in arrears? What methods are used to collect money owed as a result of unpaid school meals? What are the implications for non-payment? What was the size of non-payment, and what was the success of recovery?
Section 7: Training and Professional Standards Training	What are the training, technical assistance, and continuing education topics, including topics such as the Food Buying Guide, Crediting, Product Formulation Statement, and Web based Menu Planner Training Module? What sources of training and technical assistance are used? How useful was the training and technical assistance? Do SFAs that had Team Up training have ongoing follow-up? Are relationships with Team Up mentors being maintained?
Professional Standards	Who is meeting professional standards requirements? What hiring standards are being used? How are SFAs tracking annual continuing education and training requirements? What types of training are being taken? What is the popularity of certain training topics? Are SFAs using the FNS Professional Standards Training Tracking Tool? How useful is the FNS Professional Standards Training Tracking Tool? What barriers and challenges have SFAs experienced with documenting staff completion of continuing education and training activities, and using the FNS Professional Standards Training Tracking Tool?
Section 8: Food and Beverage Marketing	Who is allowing or restricting food and beverage marketing in schools? What types of foods and beverages are marketed in schools? What is the role of marketing in SFA finances?
Section 9: Food Service Equipment	What food service equipment needs replacement? Are SFAs using food service equipment grants? What equipment is being purchased with food service equipment grants? What is the feasibility of lower state and local thresholds on equipment purchases? Is the equipment purchase threshold appropriate or outdated for nature of program operations?
Section 10: Meal Counting	What technology is used to track meals served? What method of counting is used in non-cafeteria points of service? What training and oversight is provided to cashiers on meal counting? What alternatives to the traditional cashier model are used?
Section 11: Smarter Lunchrooms	What is the implementation of Smarter Lunchrooms activities?
Section 12: Revenues and Expenditures	What are SFA annual revenues and expenditures? How have annual revenues and expenditures changed over time?
Section 13: SFA Director Background	Which hiring standards are being used?