My dissertation is motivated by a puzzle of international social policy and norm emergence and diffusion. Today, children in one hundred and forty-one countries receive free or subsidized school lunches. Yet less than a century ago, no state had a national child nutrition policy. Feeding children was clearly not considered a state responsibility a…

The primary goal of the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) is to provide nutritious meals to children in low-income areas when school is not in session. This issue of "Nourishing News" focuses on SFSPs. The articles contained in this issue are: (1) Is Your Summer Food Program Financially Fit? (Jean Zaske); (2) Keeping the…

Over the past few years, several food recalls, such as for beef and peanut products, have affected schools. It is especially important that recalls affecting schools be carried out efficiently and effectively because young children have a higher risk of complications from food-borne illnesses. GAO was asked to determine how federal agencies (1)…

When the federal government passed the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation into law, its main objective was to improve the education in America's schools so that all students will be learning at the proficient level by the year 2014. However, not all students may be able to achieve at the same levels in some science classes, especially…

One subject on which students are rarely shy to express an opinion is school lunches, which the author turns into a teachable moment for U.S. history classes. Historically, school lunches have played an important role in providing nutrition for low-income students. On February 7, 1946, in response to an urgent bulletin sent to all Florida school…

Background: This study compares the impact of the Texas Public School Nutrition Policy on lunch consumption of low- and middle-income students in sixth through eighth grades. Methods: Students in 1 middle socioeconomic status (SES) and 1 low SES school completed lunch food records before (2001/2002) and after (2005/2006) implementation of the…

This study determined attitudes of kindergarten through fifth grade teachers about school nutrition environments, their perceived influence on school nutrition environments, and self-reported classroom behaviors. Specific objectives were to: (a) identify perceived factors that influence the school nutrition environment, according to teachers…

The present study provides a data-driven approach to identifying groups of schools based on the concentration of at-risk students the school serves. The percentage of English language learners, minority students, and students eligible for free or reduced priced lunch were used as indicators in a latent profile analysis of 569 schools. The goal of…

Science education is not just about learning facts in a classroom--it's about doing activities where students put their understanding of science principles into action. That's why two unique types of activity-based tasks were administered as part of the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) science assessment. In addition to the…

One of the key tasks of schooling is to ensure that children become confident readers and writers, able to access the curriculum and to be prepared for the myriad of demands on their literacy skills in adult life. The aim of Every Child a Reader (ECAR) is to target those with reading difficulties (mostly living in poverty) and make sure that they…

Each state and jurisdiction that participated in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2011 mathematics assessment receives a one-page snapshot report that presents key findings and trends in a condensed format. Overall results, achievement level percentages and average score results, comparison of the average score in 2011 to…

Each state and jurisdiction that participated in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2011 mathematics assessment receives a one-page snapshot report that presents key findings and trends in a condensed format. Overall results, achievement level percentages and average score results, comparison of the average score in 2011 to…

Each state and jurisdiction that participated in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2011 mathematics assessment receives a one-page snapshot report that presents key findings and trends in a condensed format. Overall results, achievement level percentages and average score results, comparison of the average score in 2011 to…

Each state and jurisdiction that participated in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2011 mathematics assessment receives a one-page snapshot report that presents key findings and trends in a condensed format. Overall results, achievement level percentages and average score results, comparison of the average score in 2011 to…

Each state and jurisdiction that participated in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2011 mathematics assessment receives a one-page snapshot report that presents key findings and trends in a condensed format. Overall results, achievement level percentages and average score results, comparison of the average score in 2011 to…