HUNGER IN OUR SCHOOLS: Share Our Strength Teachers Report 2012 National survey of K-8 public school teachers

Magnitude of the Problem 3 out of 5 teachers (62%) say that students regularly come to school hungry because they are not getting enough to eat at home. More specifically, among those teachers, 80% say that these children are coming to school hungry at least once a week.

A majority of teachers (56%) say a lot or most of their students depend on school meals as their primary source of nutrition. Three out of four teachers (77%) agree that addressing childhood hunger should be a major priority for schools across the country. Magnitude of the Problem

Teachers are most likely to cite an inability to concentrate, poor academic performance, behavior problems and health problems like headaches and stomach aches as an effect of hunger. Issues with Students Coming to School Hungry Effects of the Problem

A majority of teachers (56%) say a lot or most of their students depend on school meals as their primary source of nutrition. Among teachers who have hungry students in their classrooms, the most common way to help is to assist students in signing up for free or reduced price meals (71%). Solutions

Solutions at the School and District Level The number one response from teachers asked how to combat the problem of hunger in the classroom was “provide breakfast.” Solutions

9 out of 10 teachers agree that breakfast is very important for academic achievement. School Breakfast

More than 8 in 10 teachers say breakfast helps students concentrate, contributes to better academic performance and leads to healthier students with fewer headaches and stomach aches. Breakfast Benefits School Breakfast

Teachers identify barriers to many students not taking advantage of school breakfast programs, including: Students arriving at school too late to take part (74%) Stigma among parents who are too embarrassed to send their kids to breakfast programs (36%) Stigma among students who are too embarrassed to eat breakfast at school (33%) Parents who are unaware of the school breakfast program (35%)

School Breakfast Ideas for Increasing Participation The majority of teachers support increasing communication with parents about programs, reducing red tape to be part of programs, making breakfast free to all, and encouraging students to eat at school.

You can help make certain no student goes hungry in school. Visit NoKidHungry.org/Teachers to learn more.

Share Our Strength contracted with APCO Worldwide for this research. Survey Methodology