Michelle+Soc

How much does breakfast affect academic performance?

Reading Plan 1. //Well-Being: Positive Development across the Life Course// by Marc. H. Bornstein, Lucy Davidson, Corey L. M. Keyes, Kristin A. Moore This book talks about the School Breakfast Program (SBP) the federal government authorized under the Child Nutrition Act of 1966. The program offered free or reduced cost breakfasts for children to improve their nutrition and school performance. Children who do not eat breakfast were found to be lacking calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, riboflavin, folate, and vitamins A and B12. Since eating breakfast has been associated with improved cognitive and academic performance, and nutritional intake throughout the day, this program was attempted to lower the amount of total fat, saturated fat, and sodium while increasing the amount of essential nutrients in school breakfasts. However, the results from the SBP were unclear. Unlike the the widely held belief about the effects of the provision of breakfasts, the results from the studies that specifically measure cognitive performance have been mixed. While some researchers demonstrated significant improvements in math and verbal fluency, other studies have shown positive, but nonsignificant results. It can be concluded that breakfast consumption improves cognitive performances on certain tasks, however, questions of which cognitive processes are affected and the magnitude of the improvement still exists. I plan on presenting the results through an experiment, survey and secondary analysis. This information would be acquired when presenting my results through secondary analysis. I would compare the results with other secondary analysis, the results from my survey and experiment.

2. //Free Student Breakfasts: Surest Way to Raise Performance// by Chmelynski, Carol In this article, James Well says, "It's not a solution to the problems in America's schools, but it's the fastest, easiest, cheapest way of boosting school performance that we have. It's the closest thing schools have to a magic bullet." Perea, spokesman for the New Mexico Department of Education, also said that free breakfast for all have shown a lot of improvement in testing. He said that the breakfast program is only a piece of holistic approach the governor has take to improve education and they are "pretty excited about the reports that have come out with the minimal effort we put in." Studies found that students who eat school breakfast increase their math and reading scores and improve speed and memory in cognitive tests. They also found that children who eat breakfast who eat breakfast at school - closer to class and test-taking time - do better on standardized tests than those who skip breakfast or eat it at home. I will acquire this information when presenting the significance of this project by quoting the spokesman for the New Mexico Department of Education.

3. //Classroom Breakfast Scores High in Maryland: Findings from Year III of the Maryland Meals for Achievement Classroom Breakfast Pilot Program.// This document talks about the schools that participated in the Maryland Meals for Achievement (MMFA) classroom breakfast program. This program started in 1998 with six schools and by 2001 to 2002, more than 90 schools were participating. Researchers found that there was a 8% decline in tardiness in MMFA schools and the suspensions decreased from an average of 4.4 days per month to 2.8 per month, which is a decrease of 1.6 days per month per school. Researchers also report that MSPAP Composite Index scores improved significantly more in MMFA schools than in a matched group of comparison schools from the same school systems. MMFA schools had a five-point increase in the percentage of students who scored at or above the satisfactory level, while comparison schools had a slight, but not significant, decline in the number of students scoring at or above the satisfactory level. Similar trends were examined in individual student performances in individual subject areas, however, these findings did not reach a statistical significance. The impact of the MMFA on academics may have been clearer if the data was evaluated over a larger group of schools. The staff also believes that the program helps to improve student behavior as 72% of the staff members said that they felt student behavior improved following the start of classroom breakfast. Also, 73% of the staff said that they have seen an improvement in student attentiveness following the start of the program. I will use this information to present statistical data from secondary analysis and compare it with the ones I got from my experiment and survey.

4. //Influence of Having Breakfast on Cognitive Performance and Mood in 13- to 20-Year-Old High School Students: Results of a Crossover Trial.// by Widenhom-Muller, Katharina, HIlle, Katrin, Klenk, Jochen, Weiland, Ulrike

This article talks about a crossover trial performed in boarding schools, involving 104 students between ages 13 to 20. It was held to determine whether breakfast had effects on the cognitive performance and mood of high school students. The results were that breakfast had no effect on sustained attention among these students, however, visuospatial memory was improved in male students. Also, alertness improved significantly in the entire study population. Male students reported that they felt more positive after consuming breakfast, compared with the fast conditions. The crossover trial overall demonstrated the positive short-term effects of breakfast on cognitive functioning and self-reported alertness in high school students. This information will be used to further explain the effects of the consumption of breakfast and the differences found in the results between males and females.