Alternative poverty measures have been proposed in response to the emerging insufficiencies of the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) eligibility data. The analysis presented here involves seven poverty measures. Using outcome measures as a yardstick, we can assess how poverty measures explain these outcomes and note variations between…

Alternative poverty measures have been proposed in response to the emerging insufficiencies of the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) eligibility data. The analysis presented here involves seven poverty measures. Using outcome measures as a yardstick, we can assess how poverty measures explain these outcomes and note variations between…

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…

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…

A major challenge when contextualising admissions to university, or recruitment for jobs, is access to high quality information on a young person's background, to identify those who should benefit. Granular and verifiable information about prospective students' socio-economic background is, in practice, limited. As a consequence, universities and…

In response to economic distress, schools are increasingly serving as providers and distributors of social service resources. However, even when schools offer resources that respond to needs, they struggle to attain high levels of uptake. We examine the family-level correlates of participation in school-sponsored resources during the early months…

The goal of this article is to provide guidance on teacher attrition rates that can inform power analyses. The subjects were a nationally representative sample of teachers responding to the National Center for Education Statistics Schools and Staffing Survey and Teacher Follow-Up Survey (2011-2013). The findings indicate that at the national…

We estimate the effect of universal free school meal access through the Community Eligibility Program (CEP) on child BMI. Through the CEP, schools with high percentages of students qualified for free or reduced-priced meals can offer free breakfast and lunch to all students. With administrative data from a large school district in Georgia, we use…

Breaktimes are ubiquitous in English schools. Research suggests they have social value for children, but school staff often have a range of concerns about breaktimes and tend to undervalue them. However, there is little understanding about these times, not least because data are not collected about their organisation and characteristics. This…

The extent to which differences were present for African American girls as a function of their economic status in their performance on the Texas state-mandated Algebra I End-of-Course exam was examined. Specifically addressed was the extent to which African American girls differed in their performance on three Grade Level performance standards:…

Abstract Households with children eligible for Free School Meals are at risk of food insecurity. This paper reports on a rapid-response study that investigated the impact of the school food voucher scheme during the COVID-19 crisis on young people, families and schools. It pays close attention to the reliance of the state on the goodwill of…

Young people's wellbeing is often lowest where they assume a relatively low position within their school's socioeconomic hierarchy, for example, among poorer children attending more affluent schools. Transition to secondary school is a period during which young people typically enter an environment which is more socioeconomically diverse than…

Background: School students who are eligible for reduced or free school meals (FSM) -- an indicator of economic disadvantage -- have lower academic attainment than their peers. Aims: We investigated whether identity compatibility -- the perceived compatibility between one's social identities and the stereotype of a high-achieving student --…

Researchers examined the relationship between superintendent longevity and district variables on standardized test scores for students in North Carolina. The authors used hierarchical multiple regression to understand if superintendent-specific variables explained variance in student performance over and above district-based variables documented…

Accurately measuring the family incomes of students is essential to allocating school resources that meet the educational needs of all students, particularly the needs of students from low-income families. With the onset of the COVID-19 health and economic crisis, the need to accurately assess the financial condition of families who are suffering…