A look at USDA's Nutrition Education and Training Program

Food and Nutrition, Dec, 1992

You see it on the nightly news--the focus on "eating smart." As a nation we are becoming increasingly aware of how important nutrition is to good health.

Getting that message to children has been one of the main goals of USDA's Nutrition Education and Training Program (NET) since it was created by national legislation in 1977.

"With foresight," says Joe Shepherd, head of the Nutrition and Technical Services Division in USDA's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), "legislators saw the potential of coordinating classroom and lunchroom experiences to give children a better picture of what constitutes good eating habits.

"The idea was for NET to be a team program with teachers, food service personnel, parents, and students becoming knowledgeable about nutrition, convinced of its importance, and committed to practicing good eating habits in their daily lives."

States receive individual grants

Each year when Congress appropriates money for NET, the Secretary of Agriculture allocates funds to states in the form of grants, usually to state education agencies. The size of a state's grant depends on the number of children enrolled in or eligible to participate in USDA child nutrition programs.

These programs are operated by schools, day care centers, family day care homes, summer camps, residential institutions, and other sponsors. The largest of these is the National School Lunch Program, with 90,000 schools serving lunch to approximately 25 million schoolchildren every day.

States use NET funds in a variety of ways, including to:

-- help teachers learn the principles of nutrition and how to make them meaningful to their students; -- provide training opportunities for food service personnel; -- support lively, stimulating learning experiences for children; -- involve parents; -- and develop educational materials.

Projects vary in approach and scope

While NET's overall goals are the same throughout the country, each state decides how to tailor activities to local needs. As a result, projects vary in scope and approach.

For example, a state may decide to spend some NET funds on developing nutrition education materials for statewide use. It may use other monies to support regional workshops or award grants to local school districts for community-based projects. It may also support nutrition education projects sponsored by other groups. These are just a few examples.

In planning and carrying out activities, state coordinators give special attention to teamwork. This is a good way to stretch available resources, and it's basic to NET's goals.

In fact, the legislation authorizing NET calls for state coordinators to help establish nutrition teams within schools and other settings and to collaborate with other agencies involved in nutrition education, including USDA's Extension Service.

Florida project is a good example

Florida's recent revision of a comprehensive set of nutrition education materials is a good example of collaboration between NET and Cooperative Extension.

Twelve years ago, interested in developing a pre-kindergarten through grade 12 nutrition education framework and corresponding curriculum, the state's NET team enlisted the help of Extension specialists and university home economists through two land-grant universities.

They did this by awarding grants to Florida State University and the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS).

In 1990, they decided to update these materials. "We chose to revise the preschool curriculum first," explains NET coordinator Carol Frazee. "Fortunately, the original authors at the University of Florida IFAS could work with us. We provided a $54,000 grant to research and revise the curriculum.

"We also awarded an additional $110,000 to IFAS to develop four video segments and write training modules. Another NET grant to IFAS is now in progress to conduct area training programs across Florida and evaluate the effectiveness of the new materials and training programs."

Materials include letters to parents

The curriculum is in two parts. "One is a book of developmentally appropriate lesson plans designed to teach nutrition concepts to children 3 to 5 years old," explains project co-director Evelyn Rooks-Weir.

"The other includes an extensive annotated bibliography, a small section on nutrition and child development theory, and a series of prototype letters to parents."

Parent education is an integral part of the new package. "There is a letter to parents for each of the 50 lessons, more than in the original curriculum. And at the top of the letter there is space for each school or child care center to print its own logo," Rooks-Weir says.

Among other changes from the original, information on health has been expanded to include sleep, rest, exercise, and sanitation.

Also new is a training manual for county Extension specialists and educational directors of child care agencies to use in familiarizing preschool teachers with the updated materials. It contains chapters on nutrition, child development, health, social competency, and adult education. Accompanying it are four videos.