Innovative Breakfast Delivery Options
Despite the benefits of school breakfast, it’s often underutilized. There are several barriers that may prevent students from eating school breakfast when it’s served in the cafeteria before the official start of the school day, such as:
- Students arriving late to school due to bus or carpool schedules;
- Stigma that school breakfast is for low-income students;
- Middle or high school students may not be hungry first thing in the morning;
- Cafeteria location is not convenient for students; and
- Students prefer to socialize rather than eat alone in the morning.
Breakfast After the Bell (BAB), where breakfast is served after the official start of the school day, addresses those barriers and is one of the most effective ways to significantly boost school breakfast participation. BAB shifts the time breakfast is served so that it’s a part of the school day and moves breakfast from the cafeteria to where students are, like classrooms and common areas. The three most effective BAB models are listed below.
Three Innovative Models*
Breakfast In The Classroom
Breakfast is served in the classroom and eaten in the classroom. The process usually takes 10-15 minutes.
Grab and Go
Breakfast is served from one or more central locations and consumed in the classroom or a common area.
Second Chance Breakfast
Breakfast is served between 1st and 2nd periods, usually via Grab and Go to the classroom or common area, or by reopening the cafeteria and allowing students time to eat before they return to class.
Breakfast After The Bell: The Impact
Research shows that the simple act of eating school breakfast can dramatically change a child’s life. Making school breakfast a seamless part of the school day by serving it after the bell can also have a huge impact on classrooms.
1) Higher Test Scores
Hunger makes school harder. On average, students who eat school breakfast achieve 17.5% higher scores on standardized math tests.
2) Calmer Classrooms
Children who do not regularly get enough nutritious food to eat tend to have significantly higher levels of behavioral, emotional and educational problems.
3) Fewer Trips To The Nurse
When kids come to school hungry, they visit the school nurse more often due to stomach aches and headaches. Kids who struggle with hunger are also likely to be sick more often, recover from illness more slowly, be more susceptible to obesity and to be hospitalized more frequently.
4) Stronger Attendance & Graduation Rates
On average, student attendance increases by 1.5 days per year for kids who regularly start the day with a healthy breakfast. Students who attend class more regularly are 20% more likely to graduate from high school.
Watch principals, teachers, and students talk about the positive effects of breakfast in the classroom:
5) Maximizes Our Country’s Future
When children are hungry, they struggle to grow up into strong, healthy and productive members of our society. This comes at a massive cost to the American economy and its potential.
Every time we feed a child, we’re unlocking their ability to grow up to become the next future teachers, scientists and entrepreneurs.
Childhood Hunger in Hawaii
An estimated 54,650 children in Hawaii live in households that struggle to put enough food on the table.ii Hunger is more than just a hungry belly. Kids without consistent access to nutrition have a harder time focusing in school, they visit the school nurse more often due to stomach aches and headaches and they are more likely to exhibit behavioral problems. Additionally, kids who struggle with hunger are more susceptible to obesity or being overweight, and are sick more often.
This is a problem with a solution. Programs like school breakfast are designed to close the gap between kids who have enough to eat and those who don’t. These programs are only successful, however, when they actually reach the kids who need them.
Childhood Hunger in Hawaii By the Numbers
Number of children in Hawaii who struggle with hunger.ii
Percentage of children in Hawaii who struggle with hunger.ii
Hawaii ranks 25th in the nation among percentages of kids struggling with hunger.iii
Percentage of kids getting a free/reduced- price lunch who are also getting school breakfast.iv
Hawaii ranks 50th in the nation among percentages of kids getting a free/reduced price lunch who are also getting school breakfast.iv
* This analysis includes 2,201 schools from 14 states: CA, FL, IL, MA, MD, MI, MT, NC, NE, NV, PA, TX, VA, and WA. The percentages
indicate the average breakfast participation among free and reduced lunch eaters
RESOURCES
i. No Kid Hungry, HUNGER DEVASTATES CHILDREN: FACTS ON CHILDHOOD HUNGER IN AMERICA, 2016.
ii. Feeding America, “Meet the Meal Gap”, 2018 Child Food Insecurity Module.
iii Feeding America. “Meet the Meal Gap 2018”, A Report on County and Congressional District Food Insecurity and County Food
Cost in the United States in 2016
iv. FRAC, “School Breakfast Scorecard”, 2017–2018 School Year (February 2019)