The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently released an update to the nutrition standards schools must meet in the breakfasts and lunches served to more than 30 million children. The last time USDA fully updated school meal standards was in 2012. Research on the impact of those changes found that the nutritional quality of school meals…

According to the Ethiopia Ministry of Education (2015), school feeding initiatives, such as feeding children in food insecure conditions, providing educational resources, and school meals are essential for supporting access to general education. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of school feeding program on the academic…

The latest round of fiscal austerity in Ghana has meant that the feeding rate paid to the service providers of Ghana's school feeding programme is both frozen and unrealistically low. Accordingly, service providers adopt discretionary coping strategies. This qualitative case study, therefore, explores the impacts of austerity on children's school…

Experiencing hunger can negatively impact a child's health, behavior and overall performance in school. Though substantial progress has been made to increase access to school foods, ensuring adequate time to eat remains to be a challenge for students and schools. We know there are some Colorado schools and districts promoting best practices around…

The United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs are operated locally by school food authorities (SFAs), usually a part of the local school district. SFAs are reimbursed at nationally set rates for the cost of meals served to participating students. Previous USDA, Economic Research Service…

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…

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…

"A State Policy Landscape: K12 Climate Action" looks at key areas where states have policies that can support schools in moving toward climate action. This report highlights opportunities for growth by focusing on state-level policy in the following focus areas: (1) mitigation; (2) adaptation; and (3) education. In this report, the…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate child nutrition directors' (CNDs) Farm to School (F2S) Week participation. This cross-sectional, census survey was completed by CNDs working in Mississippi public school districts participating in the National School Lunch Program. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize demographic data and the…

Background: Consumption levels of fruits and vegetables (F/V) among children/adolescents are low. Programs like school-based salad bars (SB) provide children/adolescents increased F/V access. Aims: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between SB use and individual and school-level factors among elementary and secondary school…

Background: State laws and farm-to-school programs (FTSPs) have the potential to increase fruit and vegetable (FV) availability in school meals. This study examined whether FV were more available in public elementary school lunches in states with a law requiring/encouraging FTSPs or with a locally grown-related law, and whether the relationship…

The National School Lunch Program's (NSLP) original goal was to help students in need, but policy changes in the past decade have made students from middle-income and upper-income families eligible for federally funded school meals. The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), an expansion of the NSLP enacted in 2010, effectively created a federal…

Background: The United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) new nutrition standards for school meals include sweeping changes setting upper limits on calories served and limit milk offerings to low fat or fat-free and, if flavored, only fat-free. Milk processors are lowering the calories in flavored milks. As changes to milk impact…

Section 104(a) of the Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act (HHFKA) of 2010 made the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) available to Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) and schools in high poverty areas. Under the CEP, families are not required to submit applications for free or reduced-price meals, and schools must provide free lunch and breakfast to…

In 2002 the Council of the Great City Schools and its members set out to develop performance measures that could be used to improve business operations in urban public school districts. The Council launched the Performance Measurement and Benchmarking Project to achieve these objectives. The purposes of the project were to: (1) Establish a common…