FNS Documents & Resources

In this webinar, Team Nutrition staff review the basic features of the Professional Standards Training Tracker Tool and highlight some of the latest updates to the tool, including the certifications feature.

In this webinar, Team Nutrition staff review the basic features of the PSTTT and highlight some of the latest updates to the tool, including director user’s ability to add schools to their districts and reactivate employees.

En este seminario web narrado en inglés y con subtitulos en español, el personal de Team Nutrition repasa las funciones básicas de la herramienta para reportar capacitaciones de los estándares profesionales titulada Professional Standards Training Tracker Tool (PSTTT, por sus siglas en inglés).

This report examines the impact of using Medicaid data to directly certify students for free and reduced-price school meals in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs in 15 states in school year 2017-18. Certification, participation and reimbursement outcomes for Cohort 1 states in their second year of implementation and Cohort 2 states in their first year of implementation are discussed.

This webinar showcases the newest enhancements, such as a streamlined way to enter training titles, the ability to deactivate employees, and the ability to earn badges for completing one or more trainings under a specific key area and completing trainings in more than one key area.

The Special Nutrition Program Operations Study is a multiyear study designed to provide the Food and Nutrition Service with a snapshot of current state and school food authority policies and practices of the school meal programs, including information on school meal standards, competitive foods standards, professional standards, school lunch pricing and accounting, and Smarter Lunchrooms activities. 

On June 6, 2018, USDA’s Team Nutrition staff presented new enhancements to the Professional Standards Training Tracker Tool, version 2.0!  Since the PSTTT 2.0 was first released in November 2017, Team Nutrition has been continuously working to incorporate feedback to enrich each user’s experience. This webinar showcased the new enhancements, such as a streamlined and seamless way of creating user profiles, selecting managers, assigning employees, and easily creating user profiles for a large number of employees at one time.

The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 (HHFKA; PL 111-296) required the USDA Food and Nutrition Service to conduct a demonstration that adds Medicaid to the list of programs used to directly certify students for free school meals. Although students receiving Medicaid are not categorically eligible for free meals, the DC-M demonstration authorizes selected States and districts to use income information from Medicaid files to directly certify those students found to be eligible for free meals.

The purpose of this study is to describe current methods of direct certification used by state and local agencies and challenges facing states and local education agencies in attaining high matching rates. 

Student eligibility for free meals is determined by application or by direct certification. Although direct certification systems vary by State and LEA, all such systems are designed to eliminate the need for paper applications. Effective in SY 2011-12, LEAs must conduct direct certification three times per year: once at or around the start of the school year, and again three and six months after that initial effort. All direct certification systems now match student enrollment lists against SNAP agency records and the records of other assistance agencies whose participants are categorically eligible for free meals. The matching process, whether automated or manual, requires no action by the children’s parents or guardians.