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Free Lunch for All! The Effect of Community Eligibility Provisions Program on Academic Outcomes

Wednesday, June 26, 2019: 10:00 AM
Truman - Mezzanine Level (Marriott Wardman Park Hotel)

Presenter: Orgul Ozturk

Discussant: Andrew Friedson


In this paper we analyze the effect of Community Eligibility Provisions, a universal free-lunch program, on students’ academic performance and attendance. A school can participate in this program if at least 40 percent of its students are on programs such as SNAP and TANF. Even if a school is not eligible, it can still participate if it is part of a group of schools or a school district which comprises of schools which on average satisfy the above criteria. Using a difference in differences setup, we show that this program leads to about 0.04 of a standard deviation increase in Math test scores for elementary school students. Effect on reading scores are lower. We find no significant effect for middle school test scores. Effects are stronger for poorer students and in rural areas. We find no significant effects in urban areas for test scores. However, when we look at attendance as an outcome, we observe a significant decline in absences, but only in urban areas.