Breakfast in South Carolina Classrooms: A success story that benefits children

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Breakfast in South Carolina ClassroomsA success
story that benefits children

• Vivian B. Pilant, PhD, RD
• Office of School Food Services and Nutrition
• South Carolina Department of Education
• 2008 SC Obesity Prevention Summit
• Columbia, SC
• March 6, 2008

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Presentation Objectives

• Provide overview of how South Carolina came from
  last place in the Southeastern states of schools
  offering breakfast to first place in the nation.
• Present research on breakfast in South Carolina
  schools.
• Discuss what you can do to reach more students by
  providing alternate methods of serving breakfast.
• Provide information on available resources.

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Key events affecting school breakfast and in
South Carolina

• 1975 School Breakfast Mandate attached to annual
  budget proviso. Mandate only lasted one year.
  Some districts kept the program.
• 1984 Despite PR campaign for school lunch and
  breakfast SC school breakfast participation is
  only 43, the lowest in the Southeast.
• New tactics introduced in working with other
  state agencies and media. Key to changing
  public attitudes about breakfast at school.
• 1992 With school participation at 72 the SC
  General Assembly passed resolution to mandate
  school breakfast in all public schools.

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Focus on schools and staff were important to
breakfast increase

• 1993-94 All public schools participated in
  school breakfast.
• 1995-present SC uses materials developed by
  other states and resources provided by the dairy
  industry to focus on individual schools and
  districts.
• Key was to focus on data from individual
  schools, identifying successful programs and have
  school personnel share this information with
  other school personnel.
• Alternative ways to serve breakfasts take off!

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Key events affecting school breakfast and in
South Carolina

• 2000 Began providing extensive outreach efforts
  to school food service personnel in state wide
  meetings.
• 2002Conducted research and focus groups with
  middle school students on breakfast at school.
• 2003 Produced 13 minute video (now available for
  streaming on SCDOE Web site).

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School Breakfast numbers School Year 2006-07

• South Carolina served a total of 39.3 million
  breakfasts.
• Average Daily Participation (ADP) was 233,403 or
  35 of total ADP. (Lunch was 71 of ADP)
• Participation by categories
• Free - 70
• Reduced price 8
• Paid - 22
• Federal reimbursement to school districts totaled
  48.9 million.

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Results of new approaches to school breakfast

• 2007 SC now number 1 in nation for schools with
  breakfast and is number 2 in ratio of reaching
  free and reduced price students with breakfast
  and lunch (FRAC data).
• 2008 Breakfast increases above the national
  average continue (USDA data) with positive
  results from schools, community, and media.

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Why Breakfast at School?

• Research in 20 South Carolina middle schools
  indicated that 22 to 32 of students had no
  breakfast on a given day.
• This was true even if the school offered a free
  or reduced price breakfast to income eligible
  students.
• Girls were more likely to skip breakfast than
  boys.
• Those who ate breakfast had significantly more
  calcium and other essential nutrients per day
  than those who had no breakfast.

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Objective of next few slides

• Present research data on South Carolina middle
  school students that indicates there is a
  nutritional need for breakfast at school.
• Introduce program data that indicate universal
  breakfast and breakfast in the classroom reaches
  more students.

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SC Middle School Study

• Calcium intakes of children in grades 6, 7, and 8
  in 20 randomly selected schools
• Breakfast consumption patterns and calcium intake
  of children in the study

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Calcium IntakeMain Outcome Measures

• Calcium intake of students based on information
  derived from 24-hour food recalls
• Calcium intakes by gender, by breakfast or no
  breakfast consumption

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Subjects/Setting

• Sample of 20 schools selected from 212 middle
  schools
• Selection was based on enrollment and school
  breakfast participation
• Approximately 1000 students participated in study
• Data collected in Spring of 2002

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Calcium Intake Study Results

• Results based on 1049 diet recalls
• Mean calcium intake of all students was 696 mg,
  53.5 of the recommended calcium intake of 1300
  mg per day
• Females 618 mg, 47.5 of AI
• Males 815 mg, 62.3 of AI
• 10.8 of students met recommended calcium AI of
  1300 mg/day

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Calcium Intake and Breakfast Patterns Data
Analyses

• Students breakfasts were categorized as
  follows
• Breakfast not at school
• School Breakfast
• No breakfast
• Breakfast was defined as any food or caloric
  beverage consumed before 10 AM.

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Breakfast Study and Calcium Intake Results

• 28.4 of students in the study had no breakfast
• 54.4 ate breakfast but not at school
• 17.2 ate breakfast at school
• Mean differences of calcium intake between the
  two categories - breakfast and the no breakfast -
  were significant with a differences of 300 mg
  calcium (p lt 0.05).

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Calcium Intake and Breakfast Consumption by
Students
a. 976 students in 20 SC middle schools
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Calcium Intake and Breakfast Patterns

• Breakfast consumers (males and females) had
  higher mean calcium intakes than breakfast
  skippers (60 of AI vs. 37 AI.)

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Calcium Intake and Breakfast Patterns

• While eating breakfast provides a significant
  source of calcium for children, the practice of
  skipping breakfast is a wide-spread problem.
• Nationally 25-35 of adolescents skip breakfast,
  with females and minorities skipping more
  frequently.
• In this study, 24 of males skipped breakfast,
  and 31 of females skipped breakfast.

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Applications and Conclusions

• Calcium intakes below that recommended for middle
  school children strongly suggest the need for an
  intervention to reverse this trend.
• Because 28 of these middle school students
  skipped breakfast and breakfast consumption is
  related positively to calcium intake, strategies
  for increasing breakfast consumption at school
  should be explored.

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A South Carolina Case Study

• Breakfast in the Classroom in
• Two South Carolina Middle Schools
• Spring 2002
• Comparison of School Breakfast Programs With and
  Without Universal Free Service

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Comparison of Two South Carolina Middle Schools
in Spring of 2002

• School 1 had 68.93 of students eligible for
  free or reduced price meals and served 300
  breakfasts per day out of 782 ADM.
• School began serving breakfast in the class room
  and charged for paid and reduced price meals.
• Breakfast participation increased to 504 per
  day.
• Participation rose from 38 to 64.

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Comparison of Two South Carolina Middle Schools
in Spring of 2002

• School 2 had 68.12 of students eligible for
  free or reduced price meals and served 135
  breakfasts per day out of 574 ADM.
• School began serving breakfast in the class room
  at no charge to any student.
• Breakfast participation increased to 497 per
  day.
• Participation rose from 24 to 84.

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Breakfast Participation by Category After
Initiating Breakfast in Classroom
Paid Reduced Still Paid
All ate free
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Conclusions Re Breakfast in Classroom

• Breakfast in classroom increases participation
• Universal breakfast, where no child pays,
  increases participation dramatically
• Reduced price eligible students - participation
  increased from 18 to 84
• Paid students - 9 to 102
• Free students participation - 33 to 83

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Conclusions

• Breakfast In The Classroom had the greatest
  impact when universal free was combined with the
  delivery system.
• Universal breakfast in the classroom has
  practically eliminated breakfast skipping.
• To use universal breakfast in the classroom, the
  percentage of free and reduced price eligible
  students would need to be high.
• How high? Some suggest 60 or more.
• Careful pre-costing - including food cost, labor
  and other - would have to be conducted.

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Conclusions (Continued)

• School breakfast is a WIN/WIN for all students,
  teachers, parents, and the community.
• Alternative ways of serving breakfast should be
  considered to ensure all students have a healthy
  start.

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What Can You Do???

• Support non-traditional dining options.
• Encourage the service of school breakfast and
  make use of available Federal and other sources
  of funding.
• Southeastern Dairy Association has start-up funds
  for schools initiating breakfast in the classroom
• Promote good nutrition EVERY day,not just during
  statewide testing.
• Recognize that while school food services must be
  run like a business the student is the customer.
• Create proactive district SFS and nutrition
  policies, including standards for competitive
  foods.

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What Can You Do???

• Use resources developed by other districts and
  entities.
• Use available data to analyze what is happening.
  Work closely with your local SFS personnel and
  school administrators.
• Visit and observe school breakfast programs.
• Develop good relationships with media personnel.
  Provide third party resources to document your
  case.

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Resources

• It all starts with breakfast. Type in
  breakfast in search request. Streaming video
  available at
• http//www.knowitall.org/EducatorPlus/
• It All Starts With Breakfast is a unique look at
  the positive effects of school breakfast. The
  video, produced by the SC Department of
  Educations Office of School Food Services and
  Nutrition, carries the viewer through the school
  breakfast program in SC.
• FRAC School Breakfast Scorecard 2007 (Conduct a
  google search to obtain a copy.)
• South Carolina Department of Education news
  release in January 2008 regarding school
  breakfast can be accessed at
• http//ed.sc.gov/news/more/cfm?articleID903

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Breakfast in South Carolina ClassroomsA success
story that benefits children

• Vivian B. Pilant, PhD, RD
• Office of School Food Services and Nutrition
• South Carolina Department of Education
• Contact information
• [phone]
• E-mail vpilant_at_ed.sc.us
• 2008 SC Obesity Prevention Summit
• February 7, 2008
• Columbia, SC