School staff, parent and student perceptions of a Breakfast in the Classroom model during initial implementation.

Objective: To understand perspectives of stakeholders during initial district-wide implementation of a Breakfast in the Classroom (BIC) model of the School Breakfast Program.

Design: Qualitative data were collected from twenty-nine focus groups and twenty interviews with stakeholders in a school district early in the process of implementing a BIC model of the School Breakfast Program.

Setting: Ten elementary schools within a large, urban school district in the USA that served predominantly low-income, racial/ethnic minority students.

Estimating impacts of a breakfast in the classroom program on school outcomes.

Importance: Short-term impacts of breakfast consumption on diet quality and cognitive functioning have been reported, but more evidence is needed to draw causal inferences about long-term impacts of school breakfast on indicators of school engagement and academic achievement.

Objective: To estimate the impact of a Breakfast in the Classroom (BIC) program on School Breakfast Program participation, school attendance, and academic achievement.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This quasi-experimental study included a sample of 446 public elementary schools from a large, urban US school district that served predominantly low-income, racial/ethnic minority students.