Appendix C8. Study Overview (Group 3)

C8. STUDY OVERVIEW (GROUP 3)

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OMB Control Number: 0584-XXXX
Expiration Date: XX/XX/XXXX

School Nutrition and Meal
Cost Study-II (SNMCS-II)
About
the Study

School Nutrition and Meal Cost Study-II (SNMCS-II) will continue the long-standing
commitment of the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) to assess school meal programs. FNS
is part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This study continues the important research
begun in the first School Nutrition and Meal Cost Study (SNMCS-I) (OMB Control
Number: 0584-0596, discontinued 7/31/2017) by updating information on school nutrition
policies and practices. It will measure how many students take part in the meal program,
what foods they consume, and their opinion of the foods. It will also assess the relationships
among these factors and the nutritional quality and cost of school meals.
FNS has contracted with Mathematica Policy Research to conduct SNMCS-II about SY
2019-2020. SNMCS-II will collect a broad range of data from public school food authorities
(SFAs), schools, and students and their parents. These data about the school meals programs
will help Federal, State, and local stakeholders better serve students.

Participating
in the Study

Mathematica is selecting a sample of about 500 SFAs nationwide and two to four schools per
SFA. It will collect data only from SFAs and schools necessary for the study’s success. The
cooperation of selected States, districts, schools, and contractors is required under Section 28
of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act. Your SFA and schools will be asked to
complete the following activities:
A Menu Survey. This survey will collect detailed information on the foods offered and
served in reimbursable lunches, breakfasts, and afterschool snacks (if offered) during one
school week.
SFA Director, School Nutrition Manager, and Principal Surveys. Surveys will
ask SFA directors, school nutrition managers, and principals to answer questions that will
describe district policies, the school environments, and foodservice operations.
SFA Director, School Nutrition Manager, and Principal Cost Interviews.
Interviewers will ask SFA directors, school nutrition managers, and principals for
information about the cost to prepare and serve school meals.
Observations of Cafeteria and Other Sources of Foods and Beverages.
Data collectors will observe one lunch and one breakfast period in each sampled school to
record features of foodservice operations. They will also observe other sources of foods and
beverages, such as vending machines and school stores.
Plate Waste Observations. In some schools, data collectors will estimate the amounts of
food taken and wasted in school meals.

According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, an agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a
collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is
0584-xxxx. The time required to complete this information collection is estimated to average 2 minutes per response, including the time
for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing
the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information,
including suggestions for reducing this burden, to: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service, Office of Policy Support,
3101 Park Center Drive, Room 1014, Alexandria, VA 22302, ATTN: PRA (0584-xxxx). Do not return the completed form to this address.

Protecting
Privacy

All information gathered from SFAs and schools is for research purposes only. It will be kept
private to the full extent allowed by law. We will group responses with those of other study
participants. The data will not identify individual districts or schools. We are not conducting
audits or monitoring visits. Taking part in the study will not affect meal payments to participating SFAs and schools or school meal program benefits to participating households.

Disseminating
the Findings

A series of final reports on the research findings will be released in 2022.

About the
SNMCS-II
Research Team

Mathematica and its partners, Insight Policy Research, Decision Information Resources, and
Agralytica are among the nation’s leading research companies. The team has over 25 years
of experience in conducting research for government agencies and studying child nutrition
programs.

For More
Information

Mary Kay Fox
Project Director
Mathematica Policy Research
[email protected]
(XXX) XXX-XXXX

[FNS Representative]
[TITLE]
Food and Nutrition Service,
U.S. Department of Agriculture
[email protected]
(XXX) XXX-XXXX