Appendix C7. Study Overview (Group 2)

C7. STUDY OVERVIEW (GROUP 2)

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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.
Student and Parent Interviews. Professional data collectors will interview a small sample of students and their parents in each sampled school. They will gather data on students’
characteristics, dietary intake, and participation and satisfaction with school meals. They
will also measure students’ height and weight. Staff will gather different data for elementary
school students and those in middle and high schools. We have designed the approaches to
be age appropriate. The study does not include kindergarten and prekindergarten students.
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.

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, schools, and households 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, schools, or students.
We will inform selected parents of the study and of our privacy practices. Any selected parent
or student can choose not to participate in the study. 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 partner, Insight Policy Research 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