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Wisconsin is the prototypical 'good news' state. Denial of some stubborn realities has grossly limited impetus for education reform in recent years. However, here is some legitimate good news ( "State improves participation in school breakfasts" ), progress -- not success-- on the school breakfast front from a state that has too long been a laggard. Data comes from the annual School Breakfast Scorecard from the Food Research and Action Center . State leaders, including Governor Jim Doyle and the Governor's Council on Physical Fitness & Health , deserve credit for prioritizing this important issue. The Governor's School Health Award is one vehicle that has encouraged and promoted wider availability of school breakfasts in Wisconsin schools.

On this Thanksgiving week, it is appropriate that we acknowledge the large numbers of America’s children who are too hungry to learn as indicated in a new public opinion survey commissioned by Share Our Strength. Teachers – as first responders – witness the toll hunger takes on students in their classrooms every day. Hunger in America’s Classrooms: Share Our Strength’s Teacher Report shares teachers’ firsthand accounts of hunger as well as a formal national survey of teachers. Share Our Strength commissioned Lake Research Partners to poll 747 elementary and middle school teachers from urban, suburban and rural communities across America, for the study, funded by C&S Wholesale Grocers. The most recent figures released by the USDA paint a dramatic picture of hunger in America: nearly 17 million U.S. children – nearly one in four kids – face hunger today. In a webinar, experts on childhood hunger and health( Billy Shore , founder and executive director, Share Our Stre...