Breakfast, good test scores go hand-in-hand

It's great to see there were five schools offering all students a free breakfast during state testing week (“Some schools testing breakfast program to improve test scores,” April 8 story). I feel like this is a step in the right direction. However, the Cedar Rapids school district should extend the breakfast program to all schools during testing week.

As an elementary education major at a local university, I have seen how distracting hunger can be. While in a field placement, I followed a sixth grade student for his entire day. Class started at 8 a.m. Lunch was not until 12:30 p.m. My 23-year-old metabolism and I were absolutely starving by 11 a.m. All I could think about for the hour and a half before lunch was how satisfying food would be.

I can only imagine how hungry the 11-year-old boy was at 11 a.m. when he was in science. Hunger had stolen both his focus and motivation to learn.

No Child Left Behind places so much pressure on test results. It's the school's responsibility to provide students with the best environment for testing.

Students skip breakfast on a regular basis for various reasons, the worst reason being how many may not have food at home. Hungry, distracted kids cannot accurately show their knowledge on a test.

If the Cedar Rapids district can provide free breakfast for these five schools, then why can't the entire district get much-needed breakfast brain food on testing day?

Alyssa Panek

Cedar Rapids