| Detailed Objective: The objective of this cooperative research study is to (1) characterize school-level participation in USDA's school meals programs (the School Breakfast Program and the National School Lunch Program) at the free, reduced-price, and full-price levels and related characteristics, and (2) use this information to develop a conceptual model of school-level determinants of school meals program participation. Findings can be used to assist policy and program officials to develop policies and strategies to improve the targeting efficiency and effectiveness of the school meals programs.
The project will use a new data set, Food & Fitness (F&F), a study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. This data set includes information on school-level participation in the School Breakfast Program and National School Lunch Program, as well as relevant characteristics, including prices of reduced- and full-price meals, meal characteristics, presence and types of competing foods, and other school-level variables that might be expected to influence school meals participation. |