US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to Study Links Between Breakfast and Learning

US Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman has announced plans to study whether free breakfasts at school improve academic performance, behavior and attendance. This study is the result of a Presidential initiative to document the critical link between nutrition and learning.

The pilot projects will operate for three years in selected school districts across the country. Some schools in the chosen districts will offer free breakfasts to all children chronicling the effect on children’s nutrition and learning. The study will also evaluate comparison schools which do not offer the program.

Congress provided $7 million for the breakfast pilots in FY 2000. USDA will be inviting school districts to compete for pilot projects by submitting applications this year. The sites will be selected in spring 2000. To learn more about this program contact Jean Daniel at USDA (703)305-2286.