RD29 - Addendum to the Report on Alternative School Breakfast Service Models – January 12, 2017


Executive Summary:
**Please see RD242 (2016),
https://rga.lis.virginia.gov/Published/2016/RD242 , “Report on Alternative School Breakfast Service Models – August 1, 2016” for the original report.

INTRODUCTION

This report serves as an addendum to the Report on Alternative School Breakfast Service Models, prepared and submitted to The Governor of Virginia, the House Appropriations Committee and the Senate Finance Committee on August I, 2016 according to the 2015 Appropriations Act, item number 136. State budget funds were appropriated in the fiscal year 2016 for a pilot to increase the number of school breakfast meals served to eligible students through an alternative school breakfast service model. As part of this appropriation, the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) was required to collected data to evaluate the educational impact of the pilot and report the results to the Governor and the Chairmen of the House Appropriations and Senate Finance Committees. At the time of the release of the initial report, state achievement assessment data was not available for analysis. This addendum contains an analysis of the impact of the alternative school breakfast service models pilot on student achievement.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF ADDITIONAL FINDINGS

Student achievement data, as measured by the Standards of Learning (SOL) assessments, were not available for the initial report on the program's impact and effectiveness. This addendum presents an analysis of achievement data in relation to alternative school breakfast model type implementation and student achievement outcomes for participating schools.

There are two main findings presented in this report addendum:

1. Participating schools most frequently offered traditional breakfast in conjunction with an alternative breakfast model (34%), or offered one of the alternative breakfast models only. The two alternative models offered were breakfast in the classroom (27%) and grab and go breakfast (26%). Further analysis of alternative breakfast model implementation in relation to academic achievement outcomes was not conducted due to a low response rate on model implementation type from participating schools.

2. Of the schools who participated in the Alternative School Breakfast Service Models pilot program, 54 percent of participating schools showed an increase in breakfast meals served in conjunction with an increase in one or both state standards of learning (SOL) assessment pass rates.