Hunger and Fullness: How Low-Income Urban Students Experience School Food Policy Through Two Programs

• In Event: 56.038 - Education Policy and Social Issues: The Balancing Act of Implementing Federal School Food Policy

Abstract

Objectives and Background

This study examines two city-wide school lunch programs as implemented in three schools and investigates the role of school food policy in the daily lives and schooling of low-income urban students, many of whom are food insecure at home. While both programs comply with federal requirements for reimbursement from the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), the “whole foods” program consists of primarily unprocessed foods, prepared on-site daily by a trained chef and served family-style. The “regular” lunch includes primarily processed items, made off-site at a centralized location, frozen and reheated at the school site, and served in a lunch line.

Conceptual Framework and Methods

Informed by Critical Policy Analysis (CPA), this study views food and lunchtime holistically in the broader context of the school, community, relationships, and processes of learning. CPA seeks to understand how policies exercise power through knowledge production and truth claims, taking into account both global economic and cultural forces, the local context (Lipman, 2004; Ozga, 2000), and discourses (Ball, 1994) when analyzing policy. This paper considers the impact of two food policies on low-income students’ experiences in school and examines the role of food in the culture and learning environment of the school.

This is a multiple case study using participant observation and 52 semi-structured interviews (students, staff, and faculty) from December 2013 to August 2015 at two low-income elementary schools and one low-income middle school, all 100% free lunch schools. Franklin Elementary has the regular lunch five days per week, Washington Charter elementary school has regular lunch four days and the whole-foods program one day, while Chester Episcopal middle school recently switched to the whole-foods program five days per week.

Findings and Scholarly Contribution

Addressing hunger was one of the original goals of the NSLP when it began in 1946 (Levine, 2008; Poppendieck, 2010). In 2010, the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act (HHFKA) for the first time included calorie maximums in an effort to curb the obesity epidemic. Unsurprisingly, for the low-income participants of this study, hunger was a much more salient concern. Despite complying to the same nutritional regulations and calorie maximums as the traditional lunch program, the fresh, whole foods meals were consistently described by students as more “filling.” In contrast, students reported that the processed/reheated lunches left them feeling hungry, lethargic, and less able to learn; many even describe these school meals as "fast food." Consistent with prior research that has shown that hunger affects students' ability to learn (Alaimo, et. al., 2001; Basch, 2011; The Links, 1998), this research finds students feel more ready to learn when they feel full. These results suggest that alternative food programs offering freshly prepared, whole foods might better address the original intentions of the HHFKA to combat both obesity and hunger. Participants also described an improved school culture and climate while participating in the whole-foods program. These findings indicate that school food is an important, yet under-researched, aspect of education reform.

Author

• Erin Cassar, Temple University