A Florida elementary school has agreed to stop its longstanding policy of giving kids Mountain Dew as brain fuel before the state's most important standardized test.

For the past 10 years, Creel Elementary, in Melbourne, Fla., has given kids trail mix and "about 3 tablespoons" of the caffeine-rich bright green soda before they take the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, Florida Today reports.

FCAT results factor into teacher evaluations and school funding decisions, and the school decided to start doing the Dew after the principal read about its effects in an educational journal a decade ago.

Florida state law bans schools from selling soda.

"We've advised Creel Elementary to only provide water as a beverage," said a Brevard Schools spokesperson.

Principal Kathryn Eward said that the soda was part of an overall regimen of FCAT preparation, including advising students to get good night's sleep, wear comfortable clothes and eat a healthy breakfast. Students at Creel also get less homework during the week of the test.

For what it's worth—probably not much, considering how many factors go into test performance—a quick check of FCAT results from the past few years shows Creel tracking close to the district mean.

[Photo: ABC7]