Findings of a review of research pertaining to federally subsidized school nutrition programs are presented in this report. The review of research, the first phase of the National Evaluation of School Nutrition Programs, is intended to provide guidance for the design of subsequent evaluation (including student, parent, and food administrator surveys) by describing school nutrition programs and their operations and by providing baseline information on nutritional status assessment, nutritional status of school-age children, program impact, and correspondences between targeting of program benefits and recipients' needs. Also identified are areas which need further investigation and methodological approaches most likely to increase knowledge of the programs and their effects. Chapter 1 in this first volume of the review provides the descriptive context for the studies reviewed in subsequent chapters, first presenting a history of the enabling legislation, then providing information on the organizational structure and operations of the programs. Chapter 2 describes methods for assessing the nutritional status of children and provides information for studies of program effects. Chapter 3 reviews studies of nutrition-related problems in American school-age children. Critical features of each study are described, discrepant findings are examined, and explanations of the differences found are offered. (RH)