More than 16 million children in the U.S. struggle with hunger, or one out of five American kids. Teachers see this hunger first-hand in their classrooms. In a recent survey, three out of five K–8 public school teachers said they taught kids who regularly came to school hungry because they weren't getting enough to eat at home.
What if I told you that there was a solution? There is, and it's called school breakfast.
Anecdotally, we constantly hear of schools that serve breakfast to all their kids, but only during testing week because educators acknowledge the connection between breakfast and success. New analysis released by whole child partner Share Our Strength's No Kid Hungry campaign backs up that connection with research showing that the simple act of feeding kids a healthy school breakfast has the potential for a dramatic impact on their academic, health, and economic futures.
In Ending Child Hunger: A Social Impact Analysis (PDF), a new report by Deloitte and the No Kid Hungry Center for Best Practices, data underscores the fact that federal programs like school breakfast are not only important in the fight to end childhood hunger, but also have potential long term positive impacts on academic achievement and job readiness. Deloitte analyzed publicly available data and academic research findings and