Model and Strategy
The project’s purpose is to design a new meal experience for OUSD’s high school students – one that makes students feel valued, empowered, and connected to the meal program. Over half of children’s daily calories on school days can be provided from school meals. There is potential to have a significant impact on OUSD’s High School students ability to thrive through a redesign of the meal program.
The project will use a human centered lens and design a meal program from the student’s perspective, needs, and values. The project will improve student access by meeting students where they are with additional, tailored, serving lines. A new student-designed dining space will provide dignity and pride to students to gather, connect, and nourish mind and body. A redesigned serving line in the dining hall will connect students to the meals through recipe development, nutrition education signage, and behavioral economic ‘nudges’ such as serving line layout, displays, and packaging.
Impact
The project will use a human centered design thinking approach – the holistic approach will work with actual students from OUSD’s schools to design the changes.
OUSD tested a very rough one day prototype of one of the changes - additional serving line which was tailored more to High School student needs. Using a makeshift set up and volunteer labor for just one day, lunch participation increased by 15% over average. In partnership with No Kid Hungry, OUSD Nutrition Services implemented Breakfast After the Bell programs at three secondary schools in 2017 using mobile carts and distributed points of service. At all sites, breakfast participation increased dramatically (up to 60%), strong evidence that alternative dining models are effective. This increase aligns with student feedback at several Oakland High Schools that existing dining facilities are inadequate to meet their needs. Further, the project’s approach builds off of evidence-based research findings from SFUSD’s Future Dining Experience plan which was developed by IDEO in partnership with SFUSD’s Student Nutrition Services. The SFUSD’s Project Lead for development of the Future Dining Experience, who is now the Executive Director for A Better Course, is the Project Director for this project.
Leadership
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Jennifer LeBarre
Executive Director
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Zetta Reicker
Project Director