Question:
Do you have any information on nutrition education in schools?

Response:

• In the 1996-97 school year, eighty-eight percent of elementary school teachers reported that they taught lessons about nutrition to their students. More kindergarten through second-grade teachers (92 percent) taught nutrition than did third-through fifth-grade teachers (83 percent).

• In the 1996-97 school year, approximately one-third of teachers (35 percent) who taught nutrition taught it as a separate subject, and about the same proportion integrated nutrition lessons to a great extent into health and physical education (39 percent) and science (33 percent). Fewer of these teachers integrated nutrition lessons to a great extent into reading and language arts (14 percent), history and social studies, and mathematics (4 and 5 percent, respectively).

• In the 1996-97 school year, the mean number of hours spent in a school year on nutrition education by elementary school teachers who taught nutrition was 13, below the minimum of 50 hours thought to be necessary for impact on behavior.

• With a few exceptions, teachers in the 1996-97 school year generally reported high availability of resources in support of nutrition education, including healthy cafeteria meals (82 percent), reference materials (74 percent), support for use of instructional time (70 percent), and a written policy or guidelines (57 percent).

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2000). Nutrition Education in Public Elementary School Classrooms, K-5 (NCES 2000-040).

Related Tables and Figures:  (Listed by Release Date)

• 2004, The Condition of Education 2004: Education and health
  

Other Resources:  (Listed by Release Date)

• 2000, Nutrition Education in Public Elementary School Classrooms, K-5
  
• 1996, Nutrition Education in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools