Tisch Food Center releases new report: "Expanding Nutrition Education Programs in New York City Elementary Schools: Understanding Practice to Inform Policy"
The report explores the landscape of nutrition education programs in schools in three New York City boroughs, details what is going well, and makes recommendations for improvements. A guide to nutrition education programs available to NYC schools is included.
A new report released by the Laurie M. Tisch Center for Food, Education & Policy, Teachers College Columbia University, explores the landscape of nutrition education programs (NEPs) in schools in three New York City boroughs. The report, "Expanding Nutrition Education Programs in New York City Elementary Schools: Understanding Practice to Inform Policy" describes the kinds of NEPs available, their distribution, and if they are reaching the schools that need them the most. The report also details what is going well, and makes recommendations about how accessibility to NEPs can be improved. A resource guide at the end of the report details many of the NEPs available to schools in New York City.
Some report highlights include:
- The nutrition education programs described in this report cover a wide variety of academic and food and nutrition-related subjects, and utilize multiple activities and strategies for learning.
- Schools using NEPs are expanding their capacity to provide food and nutrition education, with some schools even having multiple NEPs for different grades.
- Despite these successes, there is a clear need for more schools to have have access to NEPs. In the three boroughs studied, only 39% of elementary schools had an NEP.
- And while NEPs are reaching some of the highest need schools, these schools are still getting proportionately less programs than their lower need peers.
- We recommend that federal, state, and local government should direct more funds and support to NEPs, with a goal of 80% of NYC schools with NEPs by 2020.
Here is a link to the full report: http://www.tc.columbia.edu/i/a/document/31019_NEPreportFINAL.pdf
And a link to the executive summary: http://www.tc.columbia.edu/i/a/document/31025_NEPreport_EXECUTIVE_SUMMARY.pdf
For information about this report, please contact Claire Uno, Assistant Executive Director, Laurie M. Tisch Center for Food, Education & Policy, Teachers College Columbia University, at cu2155@tc.columbia.edu or 212-678-3693.
Published Thursday, Apr. 24, 2014