June 2009
Another Set of National Standards
By Gene R. Carter, Executive Director, ASCD
For all the talk about national standards in education, you would think that recent legislation introduced in the U.S. Senate to update and expand a set of existing national standards for all schools would have generated greater fanfare. Alas, school nutrition standards don't appear to create as much interest as academic standards. Yet the fate of this legislative proposal will have a more direct impact on student well-being and, in turn, perhaps as great an effect on academic achievement as the national academic standards currently being developed by a coalition of governors and state superintendents.
School nutrition standards were first developed in the 1970s but haven't been updated since. During that time, obesity rates among school-age children have tripled, and other childhood health indicators—most, like high blood pressure and cholesterol, related to obesity—have reached crisis levels. Educators, health professionals, and the public have also gained a new appreciation over these 30 years for the effect of health on learning and schools' responsibility for influencing healthy eating among students.
Simply put, hunger and malnutrition are major impediments to learning. As former U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher pointed out in his recent testimony to the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, "There is a growing body of evidence demonstrating that children who eat poorly or who engage in too little physical activity do not perform as well as they could academically."
It would seem to be in the best interests of educators, parents, and students to have robust school nutrition standards that promote healthy offerings and a balanced diet. In 2007, the Institute of Medicine provided Congress with the first science-based recommendations for nutritional standards for all food and beverages available throughout the school. Yet this will be the third attempt by Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) in as many congressional terms to revise the nutrition standards for school foods. The mélange of competing interests has made for an unpalatable stew of inertia.
School food directors worry about the cost of replacing the processed foods, like chicken nuggets and pizza, currently on their menus with healthier but more expensive fare, like fresh fruits and whole grains. This unease is understandable, considering that the $2.57 federal reimbursement per free lunch ($2.17 per reduced-price lunch) generally falls short of actual costs to schools. They are also concerned that students will avoid fruit and vegetable offerings from the cafeteria by seeking out fast food and other junk food options off campus.
And then there is the customary debate over the very concept of any kind of national standards. School boards and other district leaders have expressed traditional unease about federal intrusion into an education issue they believe should be decided locally. On the other hand, food service conglomerates have pushed for a uniform national nutrition standard, which would increase their cost efficiencies and economies of scale because they would not have to comply with 50 separate state standards. Countering them are proponents of better school nutrition standards who want a federal standard to be a minimum, not a ceiling that would preempt states from setting an even higher bar.
But the really big battle will be over the proposed expansion of nutrition standards to food and drinks sold outside of the school meals program. The incongruent treatment between what is served inside and sold outside the school cafeteria sends a confusing message to students about the importance schools place on healthy eating and undermines the positive nutritional benefits of the federally sponsored meals.
The first tenet of ASCD's Whole Child Initiative emphasizes the health of children because, at the most basic level, students can achieve their absolute best only if they are healthy. Educating the whole child means teaching students about the importance of good nutrition and creating an environment in which students can practice healthy behaviors by ensuring healthy, appropriate food choices are available throughout the school at all times. The way to expand students' minds is by fueling their appetites with wholesome sustenance, which is why the most important school standards to be set this year may come from the federal government, after all.