Nutrition & School Lunch

School cook Renee Stanford, left, restocks food items in a heated display during lunch break at Tonalea K-8 school in Scottsdale, Ariz., on Dec. 12, 2022. Funding, labor and supply shortages have limited the school district's ability to cook and serve fresh food, making it more reliant on prepackaged, ready-to-eat items.
School cook Renee Stanford, left, restocks food items in a heated display during lunch break at Tonalea K-8 school in Scottsdale, Ariz., on Dec. 12, 2022.
Alberto Mariani/AP
School & District Management Why It's Getting More Expensive to Feed Kids at School
The School Nutrition Association's annual survey finds that rising food prices and staffing shortages are challenging school meal services.
Arianna Prothero, January 9, 2024
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3 min read
Students eat lunch at Edward A. Reynolds West Side High School in New York on Dec. 10, 2019.
Students eat lunch at Edward A. Reynolds West Side High School in New York City on Dec. 10, 2019.
Seth Wenig/AP
Student Well-Being & Movement Free Meals for All Students Is Best Way to Combat Hunger, Report Concludes
Some students say the quality of free meals has declined over the past few years.
Alyson Klein, September 28, 2023
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3 min read
Adult female teacher spends one-on-one time helping a Black female teenage student with her classwork.
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Student Achievement How These Districts Are Using $10,000 to Boost Student Learning
The pilot projects, begun with grants from the National Education Association, aim to curb absenteeism, supply food, and offer tutoring.
Madeline Will, September 25, 2023
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7 min read
Students wrap up their lunch break at Lowell Elementary School in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Aug. 22, 2023. Several states are making school breakfasts and lunches permanently free to all students starting this academic year, regardless of family income, and congressional supporters of universal school meals have launched a fresh attempt to extend free meals for all kids nationwide.
Students wrap up their lunch break at Lowell Elementary School in Albuquerque, N.M., on Aug. 22, 2023. Several states are making school breakfasts and lunches permanently free to all students starting this academic year, regardless of family income, and congressional supporters of universal school meals have launched a fresh attempt to extend free meals for all kids nationwide.
Susan Montoya Bryan/AP
Student Well-Being & Movement What the Research Says Teachers Say Students Don’t Have Enough Time to Eat Lunch. Here’s How to Change That
The vast majority of teachers warn their students don’t have enough time to actually eat their food.
Sarah D. Sparks & Arianna Prothero, September 20, 2023
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7 min read
Baltimore City School students find worms in the soil while exploring the woods and looking for decomposers during a scavenger hunt at Great Kids Farm and Forest Camp on Tuesday, July 25, 2023, in Catonsville, MD.
Baltimore City School students find worms in the soil while exploring the woods and looking for decomposers during a scavenger hunt at Great Kids Farm and Forest Camp on Tuesday, July 25, 2023, in Catonsville, MD.<br/>
Sam Mallon/Education Week
Student Well-Being & Movement Video Where These Urban Students Get To Learn About (and in) the Outdoors
This urban school district gives students the opportunity to learn in and about the outdoors at their district-owned farm.
Sam Mallon, September 5, 2023
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4:17
Students at the Maurice J. Tobin K-8 School in Boston's Roxbury neighborhood eat lunch on Sept. 4, 2013.
Students at the Maurice J. Tobin K-8 School in Boston's Roxbury neighborhood eat lunch on Sept. 4, 2013.
Steven Senne/AP
States Massachusetts Joins Short List of States Providing Free School Meals to All
States are stepping in where federal COVID-relief aid dropped off.
Caitlyn Meisner, August 16, 2023
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4 min read
Images shows a stylized artistic landscape with soothing colors.
Getty
Student Well-Being & Movement Opinion Kids Need to Eat More Fruits and Vegetables. Here's How to Make That Happen
There are a few easy ways to get kids to eat more fruits and vegetables. They'll thank you later.
Ralph Hertwig, August 16, 2023
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1 min read
Students at Wayzata High School in Minnesota serve meals to their peers on June 6, 2023, as part of a program the school started that employs students to offset staffing shortages.
Students at Wayzata High School in Minnesota serve meals to their peers on June 6, 2023, as part of a program the school started that employs students to offset staffing shortages.
Courtesy of Tyler Shepard
Recruitment & Retention Q&A This High School Couldn't Fill Key Jobs, So It Turned to Students
Schools have struggled to fill key support staff jobs since reopening from pandemic shutdowns. This high school recruited its students.
Caitlynn Peetz Stephens, July 28, 2023
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8 min read
Students eat lunch at Edward A. Reynolds West Side High School in New York on Dec. 10, 2019.
Students eat lunch at Edward A. Reynolds West Side High School in New York on Dec. 10, 2019. Schools struggled to procure food through a key federal program, resulting in last-minute menu substitutions or repeated menus, in the first school year in which virtually all schools had reopened following pandemic building closures.
Seth Wenig/AP
Student Well-Being & Movement Watchdog Finds Systemic Problems With Major School Meals Program
Schools that rely on a USDA program to supply food for lunches encountered order delays and cancellations and price fluctuations.
Libby Stanford, July 17, 2023
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5 min read
Students eat lunch of homemade pizza and caesar salad at the Albert D. Lawton Intermediate School, in Essex Junction, Vt., on June 9, 2022.
Students eat lunch at Albert D. Lawton Intermediate School in Essex Junction, Vt., on June 9, 2022.
Lisa Rathke/AP
States Six States Have Made School Meals Free to All Students. Will More Follow?
The new state laws provide universal school meals permanently, affecting 8 million students.
Arianna Prothero, June 23, 2023
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5 min read
Seventh graders sit together in the cafeteria during their lunch break at a public school on Feb. 10, 2023, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. A 2010 federal law that boosted nutrition standards for school meals may have helped curb obesity among America’s children, even teenagers who can buy their own snacks, according to a study published Monday, Feb. 13, 2023, in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.
Seventh graders sit together in the cafeteria during their lunch break at a public school on Feb. 10, 2023, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Changes to the national school lunch program in the last decade<ins data-user-label="Matt Stone" data-time="06/16/2023 1:11:26 PM" data-user-id="00000185-c5a3-d6ff-a38d-d7a32f6d0001" data-target-id=""> that cracked down on sodium and fat content in school meals and required more fruits and vegetables</ins> could have reduced children’s likelihood of becoming overweight, according to a new research paper.
Wong Maye-E/AP
Student Well-Being & Movement Healthier School Lunches May Have Curbed Childhood Obesity, New Study Finds
Efforts to make school meals healthier—while uneven in their implementation from Obama to Trump to Biden—could be paying off.
Caitlynn Peetz Stephens, June 16, 2023
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5 min read
Children enjoy lunches provided by the Brownsville Independent School District on June 8, 2016, at the Olivera Park gymnasium in Brownsville, Texas. The local school district provides free lunches to any child under 18 who needs a meal, regardless of their status as a student with the school district.
Children enjoy lunches provided by the Brownsville Independent School District on June 8, 2016, at the Olivera Park gymnasium in Brownsville, Texas. School districts and other organizations can sign up as summer meal sites to continue providing meals to students once school is out of session.
Jason Hoekema/The Brownsville Herald via AP
School & District Management Data Data: How Schools Respond to Student Hunger Over the Summer
The end of pandemic-era flexibility for schools and community organizations has translated into fewer students receiving free summer meals.
Caitlynn Peetz Stephens, May 25, 2023
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1 min read
Kids line up for lunch outside the Michigan City Area Schools' converted school bus at Weatherstone Village on U.S. 20 in Michigan City, Ind., on July 22, 2021. The bus makes four stops every weekday as part of the Summer Food Program.
Kids line up for lunch outside the Michigan City Area Schools' converted school bus at Weatherstone Village on U.S. 20 in Michigan City, Ind., on July 22, 2021. The bus makes four stops every weekday as part of the Summer Food Program. Summer meal programs are expected to serve fewer students this summer after the expiration of a pandemic-era federal waiver.
Jeff Mayes/The News Dispatch via AP
School & District Management Fewer Students Are Getting Free Summer Meals After Pandemic Waivers End
Summer meal programs are expected to serve fewer students following last summer's end of a federal waiver.
Caitlynn Peetz Stephens, May 23, 2023
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5 min read
Photo of Middle school students getting lunch items in cafeteria line.
iStock / Getty Images Plus
Student Well-Being & Movement Are Lunch Periods Too Short? Some States Want to Give Kids More Time to Eat
Students are losing out on nutrition and schools are wasting food.
Arianna Prothero, April 25, 2023
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3 min read
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