Since 2005, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) has recommended that whole grains comprise at least half of total grain consumption. This study used nationally representative food consumption datasets (spanning 1994-2018) to examine trends in whole-grain intakes before and after the establishment of this recommendation. Trends were examined…

This report summarizes findings from the School Meals Operations Study (SMO), part of an ongoing series to assess school meal operations on a school year (SY) basis. This volume of the study covers July 2021 through the end of September 2022 and includes SY 2021-2022. When the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020, the Families First Coronavirus…

The United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs are operated locally by school food authorities (SFAs), usually a part of the local school district. SFAs are reimbursed at nationally set rates for the cost of meals served to participating students. Previous USDA, Economic Research Service…

This report presents findings from the Access Evaluation, a study component that is designed to assess the potential impacts of direct certification-Medicaid (DC-M) on students' access to free school meals by conducting retrospective simulations of DC-M in school year 2011-2012, the year before the demonstration began. For the Access Evaluation,…

This report responds to the legislative requirement of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (P.L.110-246) to assess the effectiveness of State and local efforts to directly certify children for free school meals under the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). Direct certification is a process conducted by the States and by local…

This report responds to the legislative requirement of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (P.L.110-246) to assess the effectiveness of State and local efforts to directly certify children for free school meals under the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). Direct certification is a process conducted by the States and by local…

This report describes work using nationally representative 2005 data from the School Nutrition Dietary Assessment-III (SNDA-III) study to develop a simulation model to predict the potential implications of changes in policies or practices related to school meals and school food environments. The model focuses on three domains of outcomes: (1) the…

This report is the forth in the series of evaluations of the National School Lunch Program. The findings presented here are the result of an analysis of pilot project operations and costs for two alternatives to the current application-based certification process--Up-Front Documentation and Graduated Verification--that were tested in 12 public…

This report, the third in its series, examined the implementation of the pilots, assessed their costs, and estimated their impacts on a set of outcomes designed to measure the success of the school meal programs in providing free or reduced-price meals to their target population without providing benefits to ineligible students. This report…

This report, the fifth in a serious of reports about the evaluation of the National School Lunch Program focuses on issues relating to applications for free or reduced-price meals. In particular, it presents (1) an impact analysis of the effects of the pilot policies on the number of applications submitted, and (2) a descriptive analysis of the…

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) sponsored the NSLP Application/Verification Pilot Projects to test ways to improve the process for certifying students for free or reduced-price meals. This report presents findings on the impacts of two alternatives to the current application based certification process--Up-Front Documentation and…

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and the School Breakfast Program (SBP) provide federal financial assistance and commodities to schools serving lunches and breakfasts that meet required nutrition standards. Under the NSLP and the SBP, millions of American students receive a free or reduced-price lunch and/or breakfast every school day.…

This Feasibility Study to Develop a Methodology to Monitor the Impact of Changes in Competitive Food Policies had two main goals: (1) Design and test a plan for collecting and analyzing data about competitive food policies and all foods offered and served to students at school; and (2) Provide a methodology for assessing the impact of changes in…

This report describes research that Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. (MPR) has conducted for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), to develop methods to track the use of "competitive foods" in schools over time. Competitive foods are foods from a la carte cafeteria sales, vending machines, school stores,…

This is Volume II of the report on the evaluation of the NSLP Application Verification Pilot Projects. It supplements Volume I, which presents the evaluation findings. Volume II has two objectives: (1) to provide a detailed description of the methods used to conduct the study; and (2) to present tabulations that supplement and extend the analyses…