Since Anchorage School District (ASD) began rolling out its new school lunch model four years ago, elementary students have been eating 31% more of their entrées and 29% more vegetables, according to data collected by a team based at ISER and the Center for Behavioral Health Research and Services.
The benefits extend beyond lunchtime: national research indicates school lunch participation improves academic outcomes equal to about two months of additional learning within a school year.
ISER’s Diane Hirshberg is working with partners at Cook Inlet Tribal Council (CITC) on ways to strengthen culturally responsive early education.
Debra Schilling Wolfe is the executive director of the Field Center for Children's Policy, Practice, and Research at the University of Pennsylvania. In a lecture at UAA's Rasmuson Hall, she will talk about the role of research in child protection. ISER is sponsoring the talk, which is free and open to the public.
At the Field Center, Ms. Wolfe directs a team of child welfare experts, and she has more than 30 years of experience in directing child-welfare programs and initiatives around the country. Ms. Wolfe will be in Anchorage to deliver the keynote address at the National Citizen Review Panel Conference, which will be from May 10-12 at UAA. She will make this public talk before the conference. Please join us.
When: Tuesday, May 9, 7 p.m. (Reception 6:30 p.m.)
Where: UAA Rasmuson Hall, Room 101
Note: This will not be live streamed.
Nearly 2,700 Alaska children were in foster care in any given month of 2015—20% more than in 2014. More children of all races, all ages, and all regions of the state were in foster care in 2015. But the fastest growth was among White and other non-Native children; among the youngest children; and among children in Anchorage. These are among the findings of a new paper by Diwakar Vadapalli and Jessica Passini that reports on trends among Alaska children in foster care from 2011 through 2015.
Download the paper, The Growing Number of Alaska Children in Foster Care, 2011-2015 (PDF, 2.0MB). If you have questions, get in touch with Diwakar Vadapalli, assistant professor of public policy, at dkvadapalli@alaska.edu or 907-891-6686.