Designs for Measuring How the School Breakfast Program Affects Learning

by Jonathan Jacobson, Ronette Briefel, Philip Gleason, Rachel Sullivan, and Jay Variyam

This report describes a study design permitting a scientifically defensible evaluation of the impact of the School Breakfast Program (SBP) on learning and cognitive development among children. Following presentation of a literature review and conceptual framework of the SBP-learning relationship, four alternative designs for measuring this relationship were proposed and assessed. Of the four, the design based on Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS) data (with supplemental analysis of 1988-1994 NHANES III data) was chosen as the report's subject.

Keywords: School Breakfast Program, effect of breakfast on cognition, breakfast and learning, academic achievement, design study, ECLS, NHANES, experimental designs, statistical power, nutrition and cognition, program evaluation

In this publication...

• Entire Report
• Abstract, Acknowledgments, Contents, Executive Summary
• Literature Review
• Alternative Designs
• ECLS-K-NHANES III Design
• References
• Appendix A
• Appendix B
• Appendix D
• Introduction
• Appendix C