Eating breakfast is positively associated with improved academic outcomes and attendance, while skipping breakfast has been shown to decrease alertness, attention, memory, and problem-solving. School-based breakfast programs can increase the extent to which students eat breakfast. However, not all students who need to eat breakfast at school do. Barriers to student participation can include their ability to arrive at school early enough to eat before school starts and/or stigma associated with eating breakfast at school. This report examines several breakfast delivery models in the context of SDP schools and uses data from a two-year study to respond to three primary research questions:
- What factors facilitate school breakfast delivery and student participation?
- What are implementation challenges to school breakfast program delivery and in what ways can they be mitigated to maximize student participation?
- How can Eat Right Philly (ERP) work with the Food Services program office, schools, and students to increase breakfast participation rates?
The report also offers conclusions and recommendations for Eat Right Philly and District staff.