Free and Reduced-Price Meal Eligibility Does Not Measure Student Poverty - Evidence and Policy Significance

Sep 4, 2026

Free and reduced-price meal eligibility (FRM) is widely used in education research and policy as a proxy for student poverty. Using multiple external data sources beyond the school system, the paper shows FRM status weakly represents poverty, producing eligibility rates that are far higher than expected from stated income thresholds. The finding holds even without community eligibility adjustments, while community eligibility further worsens the mismatch. The paper also offers validity support for a new publicly available school poverty measure based on local family incomes.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages44

Reading Time1 h 51 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

1. Introduction

2. Background

3. Data

3.1 Missouri Administrative Data

3.2 NCES School Neighborhood Poverty Data

4. Methods

5. Results

6. Extensions

6.1 Using Student Poverty Metrics to Predict Student Achievement

6.2 Replication with National Data

7. Discussion and Conclusion

References

Tables and Figures

Appendix A

Appendix B

|
NATIONAL
CENTER for ANALYSIS of LONGITUDINAL DATA in EDUCATION RESEARCH

TRACKING EVERY STUDENT’S LEARNING EVERY YEAR
A program of research by the American Institutes for Research with Duke University, Northwestern University, Stanford University, University of Missouri-Columbia, University of Texas at Dallas, and University of Washington | | --- | | | Free and ReducedPrice Meal Eligibility Does Not Measure Student Poverty: Evidence and Policy Significance Ishtia que Fazlul Cory Ko edel Eric Parsons WORKING PAPER No . 2 5 2-0 5 2 1 • May 202 1 Free and Reduced-Price Meal Eligibility Does Not Measure Student Poverty: Evidence and Policy Significance Ishtiaque Fazlul University of Missouri Cory Koedel CALDER University ofMissouri Eric Parsons University of Missouri Contents ......................................................................................................................................................... i Acknowledgments......................................................................................................................................... ii Abstract ........................................................................................................................................................ iii 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 1 2. Background ........................................................................................................................................... 4 3. Data ....................................................................................................................................................... 7 3.1 Missouri Administrative Data ............................................................................................................. 7 3.2 NCES School Neighborhood Poverty Data ........................................................................................ 8 4. Methods............................................................................................................................................... 10 5. Results ................................................................................................................................................. 13 6. Extensions ........................................................................................................................................... 16 6.1 Using Student Poverty Metrics to Predict Student Achievement ..................................................... 16 6.2 Replication with National Data ......................................................................................................... 17 7. Discussion and Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 21 References ................................................................................................................................................... 26 Tables and Figures ...................................................................................................................................... 29 Appendix A ................................................................................................................................................. 37 Appendix B ................................................................................................................................................. 39 We thank the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for access to data, and Andrew Estep and Cheng Qian for research support. We gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Walton Family Foundation and CALDER, which is funded by a consortium of foundations (for more information about CALDER funders, [see](see www.caldercenter.org/about-calder)[ ](see www.c

FAQs

Why is free and reduced-price meal (FRM) eligibility used in education research?

FRM eligibility is commonly used as an indicator to identify high-poverty students in U.S. education policy and education research applications.

What does the paper conclude about FRM as a measure of student poverty?

FRM status is a poor proxy for poverty, with eligibility rates far exceeding what would be expected from stated income thresholds.

What alternative measure does the paper propose for school poverty?

The paper provides validity evidence for a new publicly available measure of school poverty based on local-area family incomes, addressing limitations of FRM data.

Sep 4, 2026

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