Nutrition Education and School Meals
Resources for Schools
Websites
Related MCH Library Resources
- Action for Healthy Kids. Program information and resources to help support positive changes in nutrition
and physical activity in schools to address the problem of obesity. Action for Healthy Kids partners with schools and families in every state to
improve child and adolescent health and readiness
to learn through better nutrition and physical activity. Resources include
Wellness Policy Tool. An online tool that outlines a series of steps for developing, implementing, and evaluating a wellness policy that meets a local school district's unique goals for nutrition and physical activity. - Alliance for a Healthier Generation: Healthy Schools Program. Tools, tips, and resources to implement this program aimed at preventing childhood obesity by encouraging healthy snacks and school meals and physical activity and education among students, teachers, and staff in schools.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):
Healthy Youth! Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity.
Data, science-based strategies,
policy guidance, and information
about national, state, and local
programs to improve nutrition education
and school meals. Resources and
initiatives include
Implementing Strong Nutrition Standards for Schools: Financial Implications. (2011). [Fact sheet].
Making It Happen! School Nutrition Success Stories. Information about schools and school districts that have implemented innovative strategies to improve the nutritional quality of foods and beverages sold outside federal meal programs.
School Health Guidelines to Promote Healthy Eating and Physical Activity. (2011).
School Health Index. A self-assessment and planning tool that schools can use to improve their health and safety policies and programs, including those related to nutrition.
Under Pressure: Strategies for Sodium Reduction in the School Environment. (2011). [Guide].
- Edible Schoolyard Project.
Information about and resources to support this initiative to teach
students to grow, harvest, and prepare nutritious seasonal produce
to better understand the connection between what they eat and
where it comes from, with the goal of improving health, fostering
environmental stewardship, and revolutionizing the school lunch program. Resources
include program plans,
equipment lists, and classroom lessons.
- Food and Nutrition Information Center (FNIC). Links to resources on a wide range of food and nutrition topics, including nutrition education and lifecycle nutrition. Also see FNIC's resource lists and the Healthy Meals Resource System.
- Food and Nutrition Service (FNS). Program information and resources about nutrition-assistance programs, including
the school meals programs. Also presents data and statistics, forms, nutrition-education materials, regulations and policy, and research about nutrition-assistance programs. Resources and initiatives include
Nutrition Standards in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs. (2012).
Team Nutrition. Nutrition-education materials for teachers; training and technical-assistance materials for school food service professionals; and materials to build school and community support for healthy eating and physical activity. Initiatives include
- HealthierUS School Challenge. Program to recognize those schools participating in the National School Lunch Program that have created healthier school environments through promotion of nutrition and physical activity.
- Healthy Meals Resource System (HMRS). Resources for
school food service and
child care professionals,
including education
and training materials,
recipes and
menus, local wellness-policy materials, best practice tools, online discussion groups, and electronic news services.
- HealthierUS School Challenge. Program to recognize those schools participating in the National School Lunch Program that have created healthier school environments through promotion of nutrition and physical activity.
- Food Family Farming (F3) Foundation. Tools to help schools progress from serving highly processed, unhealthy food
to serving fresh, scratch-cooked food. Lunch Box presents menus, recipes, materials, a blog, online discussion forums, school
food news, and video clips with culinary techniques and interviews about school
food change. Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools presents resources to help schools offer salad bars as part of their meal programs.
- Let's Move! Tools to help make schools healthier places to learn by providing quality nutrition,
integrating physical activity during the day, and teaching children about the
importance of embracing a healthy, active lifestyle. Includes a toolkit for teachers and information about and materials
to support the Chefs Move to Schools program. Also see the Food Family Farming (F3) Foundation and its initiative, Let's Move! Salad Bars 2 Schools.
- National
Farm to School Network.
Program and funding information,
news, webinars, and publications
about connecting schools with local
farms to serve healthy meals in
school cafeterias, improve student
nutrition, provide nutrition education,
and support local small farmers.
- National Food Service Management Institute (NFSMI) Resource Center. Nutrition-education materials, instructional videoclips, and online courses to improve school meals programs.
- School
Nutrition Association (SNA).
Resources for school food
service personnel and educators
about child and adolescent nutrition
and school-food-service operations,
including webinars and online courses, information about legislative action, research
reports and articles, and food
topics in the news. Resources include
Keys to Excellence. An online assessment tool that identifies the elements of a quality school nutrition program, assesses program quality, and tracks progress in developing and implementing improvement plans.
- Stallings VA, Suitor CW, Taylor CL, eds. 2010. School Meals: Building Blocks for Healthy Children. Washington, DC: National Academies Press. [Report].
- Stallings VA, Yaktine AL, eds. 2007. Nutrition Standards for Foods in Schools: Leading the Way Toward Healthier Youth. Washington, DC: National Academies Press. [Consensus report, Fact sheet, Report brief]. Also see the CDC's set of fact sheets based on this report for school staff, food service personnel, parents, and students about implementing nutrition standards.
- Also see the MCH Library resource brief, Maternal and Child Health Literature and Research Databases, and, in particular, the Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) Database and the State School Healthy Policy Database.
- Food Marketing to Children and Adolescents resource brief
- Food Safety resource brief
- Food Security and Nutrition Assistance Programs resource brief
- Nutrition in Child Care resource brief
- Nutrition in Children and Adolescents knowledge path, family resource brief
- Overweight and Obesity in Children and Adolescents knowledge path, family resource brief, school resource brief
Nutrition Education and School Meals: School Resource Brief. (May 2012).
Author: Susan Brune Lorenzo, M.L.S., MCH Library.
Reviewer: Olivia K. Pickett, M.A., M.L.S., MCH Library.
Editor: Ruth Barzel, M.A., MCH Library.
