Better Health, Better Learning Report - July 2017 SCORE Better Health Better Learning Report_July 20 | Page 14
Across racial and ethnic groups, however, residents of rural areas are at increased
risk of obesity and other conditions that can result from lack of access to healthy
foods, relying on fast food and other low-cost, high-calorie options over traveling
long distances to purchase higher-priced, healthier foods. 33
In addition to affecting access to nutritious foods, low household incomes can
lead to diminished health and greater likelihood of chronic absenteeism, meaning
more low-income students fall behind in their schoolwork as a result of lost learning
time. As evidence, low-income elementary students in Tennessee are chronically
absent at three times the rate of their more-advantaged peers. 34 Lost learning
time threatens the ability of chronically absent students to master foundational
knowledge and skills—including literacy and numeracy. 35 Recent research by the
TDOE found “almost 45,000, o