Before, During and After School
Schools and Youth Serving Programs
On an average day, most children spend about seven hours at school, where they may eat nearly half of their daily calories and spend most of their time sitting at a desk. Creating a healthy school environment with nutritious food and opportunities for physical activity has many benefits. For example, long periods of sedentary time can have harmful effects on children’s physical health, mental health, learning, and development. Regular participation in physical activity has been found to result in higher academic achievement, fewer behavior issues, better self-regulation, and stronger collaboration and conflict-resolution skills among students. Physical activity can also complement social-emotional learning by providing a way for children to connect with others, practice empathy, and reduce stress. Many opportunities exist to enhance a school’s physical activity and nutrition environment such as through movement breaks, healthy vending machines, hands-on games as a class reward, and educator wellness initiatives.
Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) Model
Used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to address school health, the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) model includes 10 components that support the development of students who are safe, engaged, supported, challenged and healthy.
Physical education and physical activity (PE/PA) are highlighted as one of the 10 core components of the WSCC model. Schools can offer multiple opportunities for youth physical activity throughout the school day through the creation of active school environments. This includes:
- Opportunities offered to students to be physically active before, during and after school; and
- Policies and practices used by schools to address physical education and physical activity before, during and after school.
Wellness Policy Evaluations
The Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity (DNPA) offers the opportunity year-round for school liaisons to submit their corporation’s wellness policy for review. DNPA utilizes the WellSAT 3.0 Quantitative Assessment Tool to score and improve your local School Wellness Policy and then will schedule a consultation meeting to review results and match you with needed support and resources!
Indiana Healthy Schools Resources
Healthy Schools Toolkit: The Indiana Healthy Schools Toolkit outlines strategic policies and environmental supports to provide students and staff with opportunities to eat healthy and be physically active. This toolkit is designed to strengthen the efforts of the school wellness policy and promote the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) Model. The toolkit consists of seven major components:
- Overview: WSCC Model, Whole Child Tenets, & Indiana School Wellness Policy on Physical Activity and Nutrition
- Chapter 1: School Wellness Council
- Chapter 2: Physical Activity
- Chapter 3: Nutrition
- Chapter 4: Family Involvement and Community Engagement
- Chapter 5: Equity
- Chapter 6: Evaluation
Contact Jenna Sperry at jsperry@health.in.gov for more information regarding the toolkit and wellness policy evaluations.
Healthy Schools Newsletter: The monthly IDOH, DNPA Indiana Healthy Schools Newsletter promotes school health-related resources, grant opportunities, trainings, and more. School administrators, school staff, educators, and child-facing organizations are encouraged to sign-up here.
Archived Newsletters:
Healthy Schools Grant: We are no longer accepting applications for FY 2022-2023 grant cycle. The three-year Indiana Healthy Schools Grant provides funding for Local Education Agencies (school districts/corporations and charter schools) that participate in the National School Lunch Program to create supportive nutrition and physical activity environments for all students, while also engaging staff and the greater community.
Youth/Adolescent Physical Activity (YAPA) Grant: We are no longer accepting applications for FY 2022-2023 grant cycle. The one-year YAPA grant is focused on providing physical activity and physical education opportunities for youth and adolescents, 6-17 years of age (K-12) in the classroom, school and before or after school program settings. We will consider ideas that will best fit your community or organization to successfully improve the overall health of youth and adolescents. Some examples would be: utilizing funds for professional development for staff, creating and implementing a sustainable physical activity program or improving an existing program.
Physical Activity/Physical Education Resources
Comprehensive School Physical Activity Program (CSPAP): The Indiana Department of Health is working to create these programs throughout the state. CSPAP is a multi-component approach by which school districts and schools use all opportunities for students to be physically active, meet the nationally recommended 60 minutes of physical activity each day and develop the knowledge, skills and confidence to be physically active for a lifetime. Four presentations on the Comprehensive School Physical Activity Program can be accessed here:
- CSPAP Part 1 — Webcast (45 minutes) | PowerPoint Slides
- CSPAP Part 2 — Module 1 Recess: Webcast (16 minutes) | PowerPoint Slides
- CSPAP Part 2 — Module 2 Classroom Physical Activity: Webcast (25 minutes) | PowerPoint Slides
- CSPAP Part 2 — Module 3 Community Success: Webcast (30 minutes) | PowerPoint Slides
INSHAPE: A professional education association with resources for teachers, administrators, researchers, coaches, college students and other professionals who are dedicated to the promotion of quality health, physical education, sport, dance and fitness in public and private schools, colleges, universities and community agencies throughout Indiana.
Active School Environments: Go to this resource to find out how physical activity results in physical, social, emotional and academic benefits.
The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans is an essential resource for health professionals and policymakers as they design and implement physical activity programs, policies and promotion initiatives. It provides information that helps Americans make healthy choices for themselves and their families and discusses evidence-based, community-level interventions that can make being physically active the easy choice in all the places where people live, learn, work and play.
Strategies for Classroom Physical Activity: This document describes 10 evidence-based strategies for promoting and planning for classroom physical activity.
Springboard to Active Schools: Provides resources and tools for schools and communities to advocate for 60 minutes of physical activity every day.
Playworks is an organization that provides technical assistance and trainings to schools and youth programs to help them create inclusive recess and play environments. Please see their highlighted resources linked below! 
Other School Health Resources
- School Health Profiles – data assessing school health policies and practices. Click to view 2020 infographic.
- Indiana Safe Routes to School Guidebook, 2nd edition: the purpose of this guidebook is to help communities and schools identify, seek funding for, conduct and evaluate Safe Routes to School (SRTS) projects, specifically non-infrastructure. The guidebook will be useful for communities that have and/or are applying for federal SRTS funding, as well as for communities that wish to implement a program without federal SRTS funding.
- Walking School Bus - A walking school bus is a group of children walking to school with one or more adults.
- Educator Wellness Toolkit - for educational leaders in positions of power to create a culture of wellness within their buildings and districts
- Indiana success stories from past successful DNPA grantees’ programming
- Action for Healthy Kids Resource Library
- Indiana Afterschool Network - Organization offering resources and opportunities for learning beyond the school day so that all Indiana youth can grow into healthy, thriving adults.
School Nutrition
IDOE’s Division of School and Community Nutrition is the administering state agency in Indiana for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Child Nutrition Programs. These programs include the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, Special Milk Program, Child and Adult Care Food Program, Summer Food Service Program and the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Programs.
Farm to School
Indiana schools are responsible for the care and education of nearly 1.2 million students each year. Children spend nearly half their waking hours and consume more than half of their daily food at school. Because of this, schools are the best place to help students learn to make healthy choices that will last a lifetime. Through access to local foods and education, we can improve the health of children while creating strong local economies and engaged communities.
IDOH was the recipient of the 2018 USDA Farm to School grant, establishing the Indiana Grown for Schools Network, the Indiana Grown for Schools website, and an Indiana-specific Buyer Guide to find local producers when buying for schools. Building on this momentum, IDOH was awarded the 2020 USDA Farm to School grant, focusing on increasing school-level capacity to procure and prepare local food for students.
Over the last three years, the network has produced four toolkits, following the nationally recognized pillars of farm-to-school, created a Harvest of the Month database of materials, bolstered the website user experience, and launched a webinar series on informative farm-to-school topics. Check out www.ingrown4schools.com for more information and to check out our resources. To learn more about our program or join the listserv, email Megan Paskey.
- Indiana Grown for Schools Network
- IN Farm to School - NFSN
- National Farm to School Network (NFSN)
- USDA Farm to School Program/Community Food Systems
- USDA 2019 Farm to School Census
- CDC's Let's Move Salad Bars to Schools
- Join the Great Lakes Apple Crunch
- Crossroads Resource Center
- Food Day 2019 - A Guide for School Organizers
- IDOE Farm to School Resources
DNPA School Contacts
Emma Smythe, Youth Physical Activity Coordinator
esmythe@health.in.gov
(317) 233-8169
Contact for Physical Activity in Children (Before, During and After School)
Jenna Sperry, Child Wellness Coordinator
jsperry@health.in.gov
(317) 233-7580
Contact for School Wellness
Brianna Goode, Farm to School Coordinator
bgoode@health.in.gov
(317) 232-0456
Contact for Farm to School