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Educating the Student Body
interviewed coordinators knew the level of implementation of the policies 
at the local level. In general, they found that information on school-level 
implementation was lacking because there were no policies in place for 
monitoring or enforcement. More locally, Schwartz and colleagues (2012) 
examined the relationship between the strength and comprehensiveness of 
all school district wellness policies in the state of Connecticut and school-
level implementation. They found that schools located in districts with 
stronger, more comprehensive wellness policies were more likely to imple-
ment the policies fully. Finally, examining the association between the pres-
ence of stronger state- and district-level policies and both weekly physical 
education and recess minutes in elementary schools, Slater and colleagues 
(2012) found laws at both levels to be associated with schools providing 
at least 150 weekly minutes of physical education. They also found that 
weak state laws were associated with schools offering at least 20 minutes of 
daily recess. As both the SHPPS and Bridging the Gap data show, however, 
schools are likely to provide recess regardless of whether there is an existing 
state- or district-level policy requiring it.