The FNS Research Corner provides a continuing series to summarize recently completed and current research conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) in the area of child nutrition. Summaries of recently completed research projects and in-progress research are provided in this article.

During their three-year research project, the authors found that most practitioners, researchers, and policymakers in the education field were not familiar with Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) or the existing research on IDAs. Therefore, in this paper the authors compiled a list of some of the references that they found useful and that they…

Presents procedures and findings of a Virginia Tech-conducted study-in-process of two alternatives to the United States Department of Agriculture's school lunch commodity surplus distribution program. Both alternatives--the direct cash subsidy and the commodity letter of credit--offer added flexibility to the existing system. (JBM)

An evaluation system for measuring the cost effectiveness of protective services for abused and neglected children was developed and field tested. The system permits the collection and analysis of definitive, quantifiable data to determine: (1) which service agencies, individually, or as aggregated by states or regions, are most effective in…