Congressional Republicans are reportedly considering spending cuts to balance the cost of extending the tax cuts they enacted in 2017. One proposal is to raise the eligibility threshold for the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), which lets schools provide federally reimbursed free meals to all students. This change would cut the number of…

Direct certification has been described by policymakers and academics as a tool which may replace National School Lunch Program (NSLP) eligibility data (Douglas Geverdt, National Center for Education Statistics, personal communication, August 28, 2023). It suggests a policy future in which we change the metric of how we identify disadvantage. On…

This analysis uses the 2009-2019 NAEP mathematics data to determine whether the implementation of the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) has reduced the validity of student NSLP eligibility status as a proxy for socioeconomic status (SES) in the reporting of NAEP results. Concerns about the validity…

Many educational policies hinge on the valid measurement of student economic disadvantage at the school level. Measures based on free and reduced-price lunch enrollment are used widely. However, recent research raises questions about their reliability, particularly following the introduction of universal free lunch in certain schools and…

Purpose: We used data from the National Survey of Children's Health to (1) examine differences in economic hardship and safety net program use after the implementation of federal relief efforts, and (2) assess whether the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated autism-based disparities in hardship and program use. Methods: We examined five dimensions of…

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and the School Breakfast Program (SBP) provide federal funding for school lunches and breakfasts served to nearly 30 million children daily in close to 94,000 schools. Because federal spending on NSLP and SBP depends in part on student participation in school meals, it may be of interest to Congress to…

Opportunity is not evenly spread across the country. A young person's socio-economic background -- including the income level of their family, their parents' educational qualifications, and their family's wealth -- all play a critical role in shaping their future. But as well as variations between families and across socio-economic groups, Britain…