Monitoring and evaluating school nutrition and physical activity policies.

Given the increase in the number of Canadian jurisdictions with school nutrition and/or physical activity policies, there is a need to assess the effectiveness of such policies. The objectives of this paper are to 1) provide an overview of key issues in monitoring and evaluating school nutrition and physical activity policies in Canada and 2) identify areas for further research needed to strengthen the evidence base and inform the development of effective approaches to monitoring and evaluation. Evaluation indicators, data sources and existing tools for evaluating nutrition and physical activity are reviewed. This paper has underscored the importance of identifying common indicators and approaches, using a comprehensive approach based on the WHO framework and ensuring that research capacity and funding is in place to facilitate high-quality evaluation efforts in the future.