ls 2000, for example, was a federal initiative to raise performance by increasing standards for the school. However, as we are almost at the end of the year 2000, these goals that were set have yet to be met. It is time to put our reliance in a program that has been proven to work; a universal free breakfast program (Stedman, 2- 12).Through many studies, breakfast has been proven to increase academic performance. Breakfast consumption has been linked to improved preformance in mathematics, continuous performance tasks and problem solving (Hyndman, 5). A study conducted in Canada also reports over 78% of teachers indicated that the program had a positive impact on the academic ability of their students (Hyndman, 10). With these reported facts, it is obvious to see that involvement in a breakfast program would definitely yield results that could assist in solving the problem with academic achievement in our nation.The Maryland State Department of Education has already recognized this fact. Upon institution of a free pilot breakfast program, Maryland recognized that over a two year period, schools that served breakfast in the classroom showed a twenty-two percent improvement in the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program, or MSPAP (Maryland, 1). These results not only confirm the fact that breakfast produces higher gains on academic grounds, but also prove that the plan is very feasible. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reports that research suggests that not having breakfast can affect childrens intellectual performance, and that even moderate under nutrition can have lasting effects on childrens cognitive development and school performance (Nutrition, 1). With concrete facts such as these, it is difficult to reject a plan that would increase the level of achievement in our schools and pull the United States out of the downward spiral it has been stuck in for years.It has been established by numerous studies that br...
