Keyword: School meal programs

Challenges and Opportunities for Equity in US School Meal Programs: A Scoping Review of Qualitative Literature Regarding the COVID-19 Emergency

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The emergency school meals program provided free meals to children in the United States (US) during COVID-19-related school closures. This scoping review aims to synthesize the existing qualitative empirical evidence published between March 2020 and January 2023 on the operations and utilization of emergency school meal programs during the pandemic. Qualitative, US-based peer-reviewed literature was More

Strategies to Increase Student Participation in School Meals in the United States: A Systematic Review

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This paper systematically reviews the evidence on interventions, initiatives, and policies to increase school meal participation in the United States. Four electronic databases were searched (PubMed, Academic Search Ultimate, Education Resources Information Center, and Thomson Reuters’ Web of Science) to identify peer-reviewed and government studies conducted in the United States and published in English through More

Alternative School Breakfast Service Models and Associations with Breakfast Participation, Diet Quality, Body Mass Index, Attendance, Behavior, and Academic Performance: A Systematic Review

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The United States (US) School Breakfast Program provides Breakfast After The Bell (BATB) to alleviate hunger, provide nutrition, and ensure students have a healthy start to the day. This study aims to review the evidence regarding the impact of BATB on students’ diet and academic outcomes, including participation, diet quality and consumption, body mass index More

Understanding Barriers and Facilitators of Universal Free School Meals in NYS

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When waivers for Universal Free School Meals (UFSM) ended in 2022, approximately 726,000 students lost access to free meals in New York (NY). This study examines the impact of maintaining (or de-implementing) Universal Free School Meals in NY, especially for Black and Hispanic/Latino families who may be disproportionately impacted by pre-existing inequities. This study will More

The Effect of Pandemic Food Assistance Policies on U.S. Child Food Security and Health

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This study seeks to identify effective food assistance policies based on evidence from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) program with regard to child health and health equity. The study will examine whether, how, and for whom, the P-EBT and SNAP emergency allotments impacted food insecurity and health outcomes More

Rapid Health Impact Assessment on Changes to School Nutrition Standards to Align with 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans

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The national school breakfast and lunch programs administered by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) are cornerstone federal nutrition assistance programs. School meals are one of the healthiest sources of foods for school-age children, which is significant as some children receive up to half of their daily calories at school. Policy opportunities in 2023 More

Promising Strategies to Increase Student Participation in School Meals

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School meal programs play a critical role in feeding children. Meals served in school are generally of better nutritional quality than those that students bring from home and have been linked to improved academic performance and household food security. The aim of this research brief is to highlight and summarize rigorous evidence from a new More

Learning what works: case studies to understand parent perceptions of school meal programs during pandemic recovery

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The goal of this convergent mixed-methods, multiple case-study project is to identify existing equity-focused strategies that can be used to address negative parental perceptions that may be scalable in resource-deprived areas, and to inform hypothesis-driven research on which strategies are most effective. The two objectives of the study are to: 1) Describe multi-level contextual factors More

Costs, Reach, and Benefits of COVID-19 Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer and Grab-and-Go School Meals for Ensuring Youths’ Access to Food During School Closures

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School meals are associated with improved nutrition and health for millions of US children, but school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted children’s access to school meals. Two policy approaches, the Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) program, which provided the cash value of missed meals directly to families on debit-like cards to use for More