Equal access to nutritious school meals for every student, so they have what they need to thrive, is the vision behind everything SNA does. It’s also the foundation of SNA’s newly updated 2026 Research Agenda.
This year’s update comes at a pivotal moment. As USDA moves to align school nutrition standards with the new Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the agenda now includes new research priorities addressing that shift and what it will mean for programs on the ground.
Developed by the SNA Nutrition and Research Committee, the 2026 Research Agenda outlines five priority areas:
- Meal Participation: Understanding factors that influence student engagement with school meals.
- Emergency Preparedness & Feeding Strategies: Enhancing the ability to respond to crises with effective meal distribution plans.
- Rural Districts: Addressing unique challenges faced by schools in rural areas, including access and equity.
- Staffing & Finances: Exploring solutions for workforce shortages and financial sustainability.
- Value & Outcomes of School Nutrition Programs: Demonstrating the positive impacts of school meals on student health and academic success.
None of these challenges are new to the people running school nutrition programs. School nutrition professionals live them every day. What’s needed is research that turns that lived experience into evidence that can inform policy, guide funding and strengthen the case for the programs kids depend on. For each priority area, the agenda outlines specific sub-topics and recommended research strategies to help focus that work.
SNA intends this agenda to serve as a roadmap, pointing researchers and funders toward the questions that matter most to the profession right now.
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