USDA helps millions of children from low-income households access healthy meals by purchasing food, including seafood, for the NSLP. USDA-purchased foods represent about 15 to 20 percent of the food served in the NSLP. According to the DGA, programs, such as the NSLP, can play an essential role in providing access to healthy meals. This can help…

Measuring kindergarten readiness is essential to identifying children who would benefit from additional supports, either in kindergarten or in the years before kindergarten entry. Several measures of kindergarten readiness are in use now by states and researchers. Most assess individual children at the time they enter kindergarten, using teachers…

All children -- regardless of race, class, gender, or national origin -- deserve to fulfill their potential and have the opportunity to thrive. Over the last several years, Texas children and youth have faced serious challenges and disruptions to their lives due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Children of color, in particular, were disproportionately…

This report responds to the requirement of PL 110-246 to assess the effectiveness of state and local efforts to directly certify children for free school meals. Direct certification is a process conducted by the states and by local educational agencies (LEAs) to certify eligible children for free meals without the need for household applications.…

The child nutrition programs support meals and snacks served to children in schools, child care, summer programs, and other institutional settings in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. territories. This report starts with an overview of child nutrition programs' funding structure and then provides detail on each program,…

Recent decades have seen a rise in mental health problems among children and adolescents. Despite a proliferation of studies describing effective school-based mental health programs, reviews of current research in this field suggest a strong lack of consensus concerning the definition of school mental health and its constructs. In the present…

The purpose of the pilot project was to investigate the benefits of an Educational Service District (ESD) Behavioral Health System Navigator to coordinate between the behavioral health and K-12 education systems to develop strategies to engage in regional partnerships to increase access to care for students who are eligible for Medicaid. The…

Positive behavioral health outcomes are affected by a variety of factors including social, biological, economic and physical environments. These social determinants of mental health (SDOMH) affect not only individual children but the communities and neighborhoods in which children are expected to live, play and thrive. The State must ensure…

The EdResearch for Action "Overview Series" summarizes the research on key topics to provide K-12 education decision makers and advocates with an evidence base to ground discussions about how to best serve students. This overview brief discusses the causes and effects of chronic absenteeism and three tiers of evidence-based practices to…

Nearly 1 in 5 U.S. students attend rural schools. After a two-year pandemic, issues related to funding, teacher recruitment and retention, and serving disadvantaged students have become more severe in rural school districts. In the five-part report series, "Educational Equity for Rural Students: Out of the Pandemic, but Still Out of the…

For Chicago to be a strong and vibrant city, it needs to invest in communities, families, and children. Access to a high-quality education and the opportunity to be healthy is key for all children to realize their full potential and contribute to a vibrant city. Studies have consistently documented the powerful connection between health and…

An estimated 339,000 workers were employed in foodservice operations in the nation's elementary and secondary schools. While news stories often focus on so-called "lunch ladies," the school foodservice workforce encompasses employees ranging from front-line cafeteria workers to chefs and food preparation staff to administrators and…

This report responds to the requirement of PL 110-246 to assess the effectiveness of state and local efforts to directly certify children for free school meals. Direct certification is a process conducted by the states and by local educational agencies (LEAs) to certify eligible children for free meals without the need for household applications.…

Children are uniquely vulnerable to environmental contaminants. Their bodies are still developing, they eat, drink, and breathe more per pound of body weight than adults, they have lungs that are still developing, and they may be more exposed to hazards and unaware of how to protect themselves. Lead exposure can cause serious damage to children's…

In the United States, there are significant disparities in the oral health of children from families with high and low socioeconomic status and between majority and minority children. Extant research on these health differences has focused predominately on caregiver knowledge, beliefs, and practices as well as structural barriers such as Medicaid…