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Schools are an important setting for addressing childhood obesity. A substantial portion of school-aged children’s daily food and caloric intake occurs within the school and after-school environment. About 30 million school-aged children consume school lunches every day, and almost 75% (21.8 million) of these children receive free or reduced-price lunches. Research in this area aims to understand how school and after-school food policies and environments can help improve the nutritional quality of the school meal environment, promote healthy weight status, and reduce nutritional disparities.
Research & Publications See all
February 2025
More States and Sponsors Are Providing Grab-and-Go Meals to Children during Summer
In 2023, to respond to increased rates of child food insecurity during the summer Congress authorized states to opt in to allowing noncongregate, or “grab-and-go,” summer meal services for students in rural areas. In the summer of 2023, 46 states and DC opted in, and in the summer of 2024 all 50 states and DC More
November 2024
Understanding how changes to the Community Eligibility Provision’s threshold impacts school meals
The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) eligibility expansion intends to offer benefits to more students, yet leaders of eligible districts may choose not to apply for CEP to avoid related fiscal challenges, such as covering the cost of meals and potential loss of state aid. This project is the first to examine characteristics of the eligible More
November 2024
Examining implementation of universal free school meals in Colorado and the effects on students at highest risk for food and nutrition insecurity
Universal free school meals (UFSMs) can reduce disparities in food and nutrition security by addressing barriers to accessing nutritious food. Eight states have passed permanent UFSMs policies and others are underway; however, existing research mainly considers the effects of UFSMs without examining their implementation. This study aims to: 1) Describe how UFSMs have been implemented More
November 2024
Updating and synchronizing national measures of school wellness policies and practices
The aim of this project is to update and synchronize two measures: the Wellness School Assessment Tool (WellSAT), which is a quantitative measure of written district wellness policies, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s School Health Index (SHI), which is a self-report measure of school-based practices. The WellSAT and SHI are the leading More