Student Feedback Toolkit for School Meals

Engaging Students through Surveys and Listening Sessions

A recent study by No Kid Hungry and FM3 found that 87% of teenagers (ages 12-18) would be more likely to participate in school meals if they knew their school gathered feedback from students about how to improve them. This is a great opportunity to gather student input and recommendations to help increase student engagement in school meals and improve program participation.

Teens reported that they prefer providing feedback through anonymous surveys and suggestion boxes. However, other methods of interest included small group discussions, sometimes referred to as listening sessions. In this toolkit, we have provided both methods of sampling students through surveys and listening sessions. We utilized both methods when working with two school divisions in Virginia, to help inform the school nutrition department and provide as much insight as possible to help understand and improve participation.