Background: This study examined student and caregiver preference for school communication and explored the feasibility and acceptability of a digital tool to assist with communication about school meal program between schools and families. Methods: The study used qualitative methodology through youth focus groups and caregiver semi-structured…

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is a federal program that provides free and reduced priced lunch to millions of low-income children in urban schools. Empirical research shows mixed results on the physical and nutritional health of urban students participating in the program. However, a considerable limitation of this literature is that it…

Most researchers and policymakers rely on the share of students eligible for free and reduced-price meals when describing student socioeconomic background in schools. But shares of students receiving free and reduced-price meals, and other measures related to the distribution of school meals, vary by state and across time because of changes in…

Inappropriate behaviors often occur in non-classroom settings, such as lunchrooms, due to the increased volume of students with fewer supervising adults. As such, there is a need for effective and efficient behavior management interventions that can be implemented in these environments. To address frequent disruptions in an urban elementary…

The goal of this article is to provide guidance on teacher attrition rates that can inform power analyses. The subjects were a nationally representative sample of teachers responding to the National Center for Education Statistics Schools and Staffing Survey and Teacher Follow-Up Survey (2011-2013). The findings indicate that at the national…

Free school meals provide support to vulnerable families in the Republic of Ireland. Funding is allocated as part of an anti-poverty strategy. An investigation was carried out to discover if the school meal could be used to provide nutritious scratch-cooked food as well as providing opportunities for increased socialisation and pedagogy. Food…

In Philadelphia, over 40% of youth are overweight or obese. The objective in this assessment was to learn about urban residents' perspectives regarding the local food environment and its impact on eating behaviors. Using photo-elicitation, 20 adolescents reflected on their food environments through photographs and corresponding interviews. Without…

The Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT) is the most widely used norm-referenced creativity test used in gifted identification. Although commonly used for identifying talent, little is known about how creativity tests, like the TTCT-Figural, contribute to the probability of being identified as gifted especially with underrepresented…

The issue of school food and its role in the learning environment has been overlooked by educators, education researchers, and policy makers. This study uses observations and interviews in three high-poverty, urban schools to investigate how participants experience school food policy in their daily lives. Participants at all three schools believed…

The Career and Technical Education (CTE)-focused dual credits programs are proven to promote both career and academic benefits to students. This quantitative study matched and analyzed transcript data from 245 high school students enrolled in CTE dual credit programs in an urban public school district in a southern state of the U.S. The school…

Background: Adjustments in teaching resources and school meal programs are urgently needed during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study examined teaching resources that would have been helpful when schools closed, and how school meal programs should be changed in the 2020-2021 school year. Methods: In October 2020, a 27-item, cross-sectional, online…

Background: We gathered baseline data about student need of healthy, free school food, and if current school meal programming serves students in need of healthy free school food, in anticipation of the completion of a district-wide kitchen infrastructure and educational farm project in a high-poverty urban school district. Methods: We used mixed…

The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) of the National School Lunch Program allows high-poverty schools to provide USDA school meals at no charge to all of their students. USDA reimbursement for meals is simplified by making use of routinely collected administrative data, such as participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program…

Urban public school districts in the U.S. vary in quality. Educational policies, distribution of resources, and the challenges that students bring to the classroom differ substantially across localities. Little surprise, then, that academic outcomes--such as high school graduation rates and average school performance on standardized…

In response to the "Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of Education" Supreme Court decision, Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) reconfigured the district's race-based student assignment and implemented a race- and socioeconomic-based student assignment plan. Using hierarchical linear multiple regression, this study examined students'…