School
Breakfast
Program
Participation
A study of the involvement and
contributions that students have on
federally funded programs.
Steven Lewis
Many households involving children who have working parents emphasize the
importance of breakfast as being the most important meal of the day. This specific saying may
sound a bit cliché but has evident truth to it as well. Especially if children must wake up early in
the morning to prepare for their day which includes going to class for over nearly five hours.
During these school days children are also expected to be attentive throughout the entire day.
But for those students who have parents that also must get up around the same time as their
children for work will not have access to a meal every day, as their parents are also in a hurry to
start their day. This is where the school breakfast serves as a convenient option not only for
those students whose parents do not have time to make them a meal, but for students who
simply want to connect with their classmates and socialize before their rigorous school day
starts. Eating breakfast at school has many benefits for students. Students who participate in
school breakfast are said to have more attention throughout the entirety of the school day,
perform better on standardized tests, and gain a sense of community and belonging amongst
their classmates. Of the many benefits mentioned, students who eat breakfast at school have
also become some of the first groups to help spread many different breakfast programs across
the country. The early groups of students who partook in school breakfast served as the ones
who paved the way for the many different programs across the United States. Due to the many
reasons mentioned, the number of students who have participated in school breakfast
programs has increased at a constant rate over the years. As we examine the annual School
Breakfast Program Participants between the years 2000-2017, we will see that in every
category the number of students shows an increase.
Applications that determine if you will receive free, reduced, or full priced lunch are
reviewed by school district officials. Each family is required to fill out a form which will
determine the status of the breakfast that the student will receive.
In the data pictured above we see the number of students who received free breakfast
between the years 2000-2017. As the years tend to progress, we also see an increase in the
number of students who received free breakfast over the 17-year period. In the data, there are
no years where there seems to be a decrease in the number of students who received free
breakfast. Each year exhibits a positive number as more students tend to get acclimated with
the school’s breakfast programs that have been implemented. Over the 17-year period we
generally see an increase in the number of students who received free breakfast.
0.00
2.00
4.00
6.00
8.00
10.00
12.00
14.00
Fr
e
e
B
re
ak
fa
st
Years
School Breakfast Prog...
