Standards of Excellence – Afterschool Programs

When afterschool nutrition sites serve quality, kid-friendly food, it attracts children to the program and makes them more likely to consistently participate.

To identify and promote quality afterschool nutrition sites, FRAC created Afterschool Nutrition Standards of Excellence [pdf]. This document can be used to evaluate afterschool nutrition sites and acknowledge quality programs.

The primary goal of evaluating afterschool nutrition sites and holding them to high standards is to increase the quality of food served and the site environment so that participation increases and more hungry children receive healthy and nutritious meals and snacks after school.

We encourage you to use the afterschool nutrition criteria to evaluate sites in your area for any of the following:

  • Evaluate what is working and not working at afterschool nutrition sites in your area;
  • Distribute the checklist to site coordinators so they can perform a self-evaluation of their site;
  • Conduct city or county-wide evaluations of the Afterschool Nutrition Programs;
  • Determine high-quality sites and recognize them for their work;
  • Identify what areas need to be improved the following year and encourage sites to reach the next level of program excellence.