The problem that naturally arises and needs evaluation is: What are the nature, scope, and effects of federal aid to school lunch programs in California? The questions that need to be answers are: (1) How has federal aid for school lunch programs developed?; (2) What forms has it taken?; (3) What has it accomplished? The ultimate objectives that evolve in this investigation are: (1) To provide for workers and others interested in public education information regarding the historical background, present status, and effects of federal aid for school lunch programs.; (2) To provide possible bases for revision and improvement of the school lunch program as it now exists.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Education in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Education in the Department of Educational Psychology and Special Needs Education at the University Of Zululand, South Africa, 2015 / One of the major obstacles to children’s growth and development, including performance in the classroom, is malnutrition. The National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP) is an effective yet essential means of addressing the learners’ hunger needs on a daily basis, thereby serving as a tool in boosting learner attendance, academic performance, health and nutrition, and the overall prospects for the children’s future. The present study seeks to examine the challenges experienced by learners benefitting from the National School Nutritional Programme in urban primary schools in Empangeni. An in-depth literature study was followed by an empirical investigation based on a qualitative research design employing questionnaires, focus groups and drawings. The sample consisted of learners, educators and the facilitators of the NSNP. The research findings revealed that learners experienced the following challenges: stigma, problems with transport, scheduling of meals, peer pressure and bullying, inadequate resources, the schools’ menu compliance and flexibility, behavioural issues and primary care. The study also proposed a host of possible suggestions and recommendations to improve the nutritional programmes in school for the overall benefit of all learners. Further avenues for research were discussed so that researchers could expand the programme into the future.

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Over 50 million children attend public elementary and secondary schools in the United States each day. Children spend a substantial portion of their waking hours in school and consume one-third to one-half of their daily calories there, making schools a promising site to influence dietary quality and potentially the risk of childhood obesity. Important policy revisions have been implemented in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) to improve the nutritional quality of school meals. In 2010, the Healthy, and Hunger-Free Kids Act updated the NSLP standards. The revised nutrition standards required schools to increase the availability of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free and low-fat fluid milk in school meals; reduce the level of sodium, saturated fat and trans fat; and meet the nutritional needs of school children within their calorie requirements. About 60% of elementary children participate in the NSLP at least once per week, with the remaining 40% of children bringing a packed lunch from home. While school lunches are guided by national standards and regularly monitored to ensure standards are maintained, the remaining 40% are not guided by national standards. The ultimate purpose of this research was to assess the current school lunch environment and increase the overall nutritional quality of elementary lunches. Data collection procedures included school and packed lunch observations, elementary parent questionnaires, and a pilot intervention to assist elementary parents in providing healthier packed lunches. Results from these studies provide insight on the nutritional differences in school and packed lunches, provide knowledge concerning the parental motivations and barriers to participating in the NSLP or packing lunch for a child, and contribute to the limited research on effective modalities for assisting parents in providing healthier lunches. This research has significant implications public policy and provides valuable information for health professionals, researchers, food service directors, parents, and elementary school administrators to encourage NLSP participation and/or develop interventions which assist parents in packing healthier lunches. Interventions can take the form of marketing strategies to potentially influence NSLP participation, interventions to increase the nutritional value of packed lunches, and/or improvements in school wellness policies. / Ph. D.

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Call number: LD2668 .T4 1984 H434 / Master of Science

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In the U.S., few children meet federal recommendations for fruit and vegetable consumption, putting them at increased risk for overweight, obesity and several non-communicable diseases. Interventions to increase fruit and vegetable consumption delivered within the school setting are advantageous in that they provide the opportunity to reach many youths in period of life during which key diet-related behaviors are formed that may track into adulthood. The National School Lunch Program (NSLP), a federal food assistance program that serves over 30 million meals daily in over 100,000 schools in the U.S., is one example of an intervention that may increase fruit and vegetable consumption among children. Recent regulatory changes to the program via the 2010 Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act (HHFKA) require compliance with minimum daily and weekly minimums for fruit and vegetables offered to students at lunch to receive federal reimbursement, which has resulted in increased availability of fruits and vegetables. Although preliminary evaluations of the regulatory changes have documented small increases in consumption, there is interest in identifying other programs and policies to ensure that components are consumed. Yet there is little meta-evidence that critically examines aspects related to the design of school-based intervention studies assessing fruit and vegetable consumption. This dissertation describes a systematic mapping review of the literature and three empirical studies which inform the development of a conceptual evaluation framework for designing studies to measure fruit and vegetable consumption among elementary students in the U.S. within schools participating in the NSLP. A systematic mapping review of the literature technique was used to identify studies conducted among elementary students in grades K-5th within schools in the United States in the period from 2004 to present with the primary outcome fruit and vegetable consumption at the lunch meal. A total of 61 records were included in the review, categorized as either methodological validation studies (n=10) or as studies of factors related to students’ consumption of fruits and vegetables (n=51). Validation studies were conducted with four types of dietary assessment methods within the school lunch setting, all demonstrating moderate accuracy relative to the referent method: weighed plate waste, direct observation, digital photography and self-report instruments. In the studies examining factors related to fruit and vegetable consumption at school lunch, the frequency of methods was as follows: weighed plate waste method (n=21), direct observation (n=14), digital photography methodology (n=12), and self-report (n=4). Most studies utilized cross-sectional (n=15) or quasi-experimental designs (n=24). A socio-ecological framework was used to group 19 environmental factors examined in these studies into 5 clusters of factors: individual, item-specific, meal-specific, cafeteria environment and school-wide/policy. While many factors were explored across studies, relatively few studies accounted for multiple factors in their analyses, leaving room for potential confounding. Three empirical studies were conducted within a larger, cross-sectional evaluation of FoodCorps, a national farm-to-school program that promotes fruit and vegetable consumption in school-aged children. First, this dissertation conducted a validation study to estimate the accuracy of a self-report questionnaire instrument relative to digital photography for measuring fruit and vegetable consumption in elementary students from 23 schools in a five-phase study. High agreement was observed between student reports of fruit and vegetable items on tray and items observed in digital photographs (match rate ranged from 77 to 88% depending on phase), as well as reports of amounts of fruit and vegetable items consumed (ranges from 67 to 83% depending on phase). There were no differences observed in accuracy of reporting between 2nd and 3rd grade students. It can therefore be concluded that a group-administered self-report instrument can be used to measure fruit and vegetable consumption in a school setting among 2nd and 3rd grade students, providing a potentially less costly instrument than existing objective methods. Second, a descriptive study reports intra-class correlation estimates for fruit and vegetable outcomes, quantifying the variation in these outcomes attributable to the school-level that can be used in power calculation for future studies. Using 2,571 before- and after-meal digital photographs collected of students’ lunch trays across 40 days of data collection within 20 schools, the intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC) were estimated via multilevel regression models. The observed ICCs for all fruit and vegetable consumption outcomes ranged from 0.159 (vegetables on tray, continuous) to 0.472 (vegetables on tray, binary). Within each of food item category (fruit, vegetables, or fruit and vegetables combined), the highest ICC was observed for items on tray (binary). A multilevel linear model which included as covariates the percent of students eligible for free/reduced price lunch and the percent of white students was shown to decrease the ICC for each fruit and vegetable outcome variable except fruit on tray (binary). The largest for decrease in ICC was for the outcome fruit and vegetables on tray (in cup equivalents), wherein the model reduced ICC from 0.268 to 0.018, a 93% decrease. The power calculations for cluster randomized controlled trial that can conducted using these ICCs will help to ensure that researchers have adequately powered their studies. Third, select cafeteria environmental factors were examined in a cross-sectional study as they relate to students’ fruit and vegetable consumption at the lunch meal. Using the digital photographs of 2,571 lunch trays from the previous study, the association between fruit and vegetable consumption and several environmental factors was examined. The average consumption of fruit and vegetables was 0.35 cup equivalents (SD=0.31) and 0.24 cup equivalents (SD=0.29), respectively, among students who had them on their tray. When considering students who had a fruit or a vegetable or both on their tray (96% of the sample), the average was 0.45 cup equivalents (SD=0.40). Hierarchical linear models examined environmental variables and fruit and vegetable consumption outcomes: the number of fruit and vegetable items offered (range from 3 to 14 items) was positively associated with vegetable consumption (B=0.021; SE=0.006; P<0.001); noise (rage from 70 DbA to 84 DbA) was negatively associated with fruit consumption (B=-0.012; SE=0.004; P=0.003) and fruit and vegetable consumption (B=-0.017; SE=0.004; P<0.001); recess scheduled before lunch was positively associated with fruit consumption (relative to recess after lunch; B=0.100; SE=0.023; P<0.001) and fruit and vegetable consumption (B=0.096; SE=0.023; P<0.001). Despite cross-sectional evidence of an association, future research is necessary to systematically manipulate these variables to understand their impact. The results from these three studies and the systematic mapping review are used to develop a conceptual evaluation framework that can be used by researchers to improve the quality and design of studies promoting fruit and vegetable consumption among elementary school-aged children in the U.S.

We know that it is important that students feel a sense of belonging in school, but additional research is needed to better understand the influences on belonging, especially for junior high and middle school students. Junior high lunchtime is an ideal space to study as a potential influence on belonging because it is a central part of the secondary school experience and it is a social space for students. The purpose of this study is to connect lunchtime experiences to school belonging by showing that how students experience lunchtime and how this affects their overall sense of belonging in school.Descriptive statistical methods such as SPSS Two-Step Cluster Analysis as well as predictive statistics such as logistical regression are used to evaluate data collected during a schoolwide survey conducted in spring 2014 at a junior high (grades 7-8) located in the intermountain region of the United States. The survey provided responses from 832 students across the junior high. Results indicate that loving lunch significantly positively affects school belonging and that students naturally group into different profiles based on their lunchtime preferences. The results also indicate that these lunchtime activity preference profiles significantly affect belonging. Three recommendations are made based on the findings of this study. (a) Offer a variety of lunchtime activity options for students to choose from aimed at making lunch a more positive experience for all students. (b) Create more structured activities for students to participate in during lunch for those who may have anxiety about what to do during lunch. (c) Involve students in making lunch more enjoyable for themselves and others through a school-wide initiative to improve lunchtime experiences for all students.While this study confirms the suspected connection between lunchtime experiences and school belonging, further research is necessary to better understand how lunchtime is experienced by students and how lunchtime can be used as a space for fostering belonging in junior highs.

Thesis (M. Dev.) --University of Limpopo, 2016 / The purpose of this study was to investigate the challenges in implementing the Nutrition Programme at Khomela Primary School in Vhembe District, Limpopo Province. A qualitative research was conducted using case study research design method. The Non-probability sampling method was done through purposive sampling method to select Grade 6 and 7 learners and convenient sampling method for teachers and parents. Data collection was done using individual unstructured interviews. Data was analysed using qualitative data analysis method. Four groups of respondents participated in the study: learners group (n=10) giving information on the meal preference; teachers (n=8) managing and administering the Nutrition Programme at school level; parents and food handlers (food handlers n=2, parents n=5). The study focused on the following challenges: management, infrastructure, training, motivation, food safety, quality of food, delivery by suppliers and feeding time as the main challenges of the Nutrition Programme. The findings of the study concluded that there was poor involvement of teachers and parents in the Nutrition Programme. The study also concluded that the aim and principles of the Nutrition Programme were not well understood at Khomela Primary School. The participants also made suggestions on how the Nutrition Programme could be improved effectively. The study suggested that the school had to conduct awareness campaigns of learners, teachers and parents indicating the importance of the Nutrition Programme in schools. The study also concluded that the school had to be provided with modern a kitchen and a school dining hall. Despite the challenges, the Nutrition Programme had a positive impact on the school enrolment. To minimise the challenges of the Nutrition Programme, the study recommends that the principal and the School Governing Body draft a School Nutrition Policy which is in line with the Nutrition Programme guidelines. The Nutrition Policy should cover issues such as management and administration of the Nutrition Programme.