| Amount of award, fiscal 2002: $552,000.00 fiscal 2005: $456,954.00 fiscal 2000: $400,000.00 fiscal 2001: $230,000.00 fiscal 1998: $200,000.00 fiscal 2006: $170,754.00 fiscal 2007: $170,754.00 fiscal 2008: $167,639.00 fiscal 1999: $150,000.00 fiscal 2003: $80,200.00 fiscal 2004: $20,000.00 |
| Detailed Objective: This project supports enhanced data collection necessary to examine the link between
the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)
participation in infancy and childhood to cognitive development, obesity, and
food security by adding a bank of questions to the Early Childhood Longitudinal
Study-Birth Cohort (ECLS-B) conducted by the National Center for Educational Statistics
(NCES) of the U.S. Department of Education. Added questions include WIC and other
food assistance program participation, infant feeding practices, immunizations,
health care, height, weight, and related information.
ECLS-B is a nationally representative sample of about 12,000 children born
during the year 2000 who will be followed through the first grade. The study
focuses on factors affecting readiness for school, and information will be collected
each year from parents, teachers, birth records, and the children themselves.
The list of items proposed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to be
included in the survey relate to participation in the WIC as well as other USDA
food-assistance programs; infant feeding practices; children's household food
security; and children's height and weight. This study will provide a wealth
of information of interest to USDA that has not been previously collected. For
example, ECLS-B offers the Economic Research Service the opportunity to examine
the relationship between children's participation in WIC and their cognitive
performance and school progress. Recent findings indicate that obesity in children
is increasing. Data from the ECLS-B may also shed some light on the relationship
of infant feeding practices to the development of obesity in children. The U.S.
Department of Agriculture provided the U.S. Department of Education with
a list of proposed items to be included on the summer 1999 base year and the
2000 first year follow-up field tests of the ECLS-B. |