[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-585104-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":81,"doc-detail-585104-en":131},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","the-impact-of-the-community-eligibility-provision-cep-on-maryland-students","The Impact of the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) on Maryland Students","","This study investigates how Maryland schools implemented the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) and what effects followed. CEP is a federal school-based meal option allowing high-poverty schools to provide free breakfast and lunch to all students at no cost. Introduced in Maryland from 2015 to 2022, the report tracks variation in the number of new CEP schools by year and analyzes participation in free meals, absenteeism, suspensions, and limited test-score evidence.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & Report",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/the-impact-of-the-community-eligibility-provision-cep-on-maryland-students/585104/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/the-impact-of-the-community-eligibility-provision-cep-on-maryland-students/585104.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Maya Linwood","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-13","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",12,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"What is the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) and why does it matter for schools?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"CEP is a federal school-based meal service option that lets high-poverty schools provide free breakfast and lunch to all students at no cost. Participating schools must provide meals for all students without charge and receive reimbursement based on the Identified Student Percentage (ISP).","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"What changes did the study find after CEP was introduced?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"Participation in free meals increased by about 13–15 percentage points after CEP introduction. The study also reports small increases in absenteeism (including chronic absenteeism) and small decreases in suspensions in secondary schools, with effects that may shift over time.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"Does the report explain why the impacts occurred?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"The study does not establish causal reasons for the observed impacts. It indicates limited test-score evidence and offers considerations such as the lack of evidence that pandemic-affected school years or other programs (e.g., Maryland Meals for Achievement) drove the study’s overall conclusions.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},585104,1792062582,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,92,96,101,106,111,115,120,123,127],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":89,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":91},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":97,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":102,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":103,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":105},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":107,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":108,"show_sort_weight":109,"slug":110},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":112,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":113,"slug":114},8,30,"research-report",{"id":116,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":117,"show_sort_weight":118,"slug":119},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":118,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":121,"show_sort_weight":118,"slug":122},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":124,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":125,"show_sort_weight":124,"slug":126},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":128,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":129,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":130},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":132},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":133,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":134,"doc_module":4,"category_id":112,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":135,"file_id":136,"file_url":137,"file_type":138,"file_size":139,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":140,"language":141,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":142,"faqs":143,"seo_title":144,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":145,"read_time":146,"preview_page_count":4},962084928432,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_155a257f0dc6eb9ab79c44ca47cae57d","The Impact of the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) on Maryland Students  \nOffice of Research  \nSeptember 2024  \nMARYLAND STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION  \nCarey M. Wright, Ed.D.  \nState Superintendent of Schools  \nGeoff Sanderson  \nDeputy State Superintendent Office of Accountability  \nKrishnanda Tallur  \nDeputy State Superintendent Office of Finance and Operations  \nWes Moore  \nGovernor  \nMARYLAND STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION  \nJoshua L. Michael, Ph. D. ( President) Monica Goldson, Ed. D. (Vice President)  \nChuen-Chin Bianca Chang, MSN, PNP, RN-BC Alverne \"Chet\" Chesterfield  \nKenny Clash  \nClarence C. Crawford (President Emeritus) Abhiram Gaddam (Student Member) Nick Greer  \nDr. Irma E. Johnson  \nDr. Kim Lewis  \nDr. Joan Mele-McCarthy, D.A., CCC-SLP  \nRachel L. McCusker  \nXiomara V. Medina, M. Ed.  \nSamir Paul, Esq.  \nTable of Contents  \nExecutive Summary ................................................................................................................................................................. 3  \nIntroduction, Context, and Research Questions ......................................................................................................... 4  \nData ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 6  \nMethodology............................................................................................................................................................................... 9  \nFindings ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 10  \nSummary and Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................... 17  \nReferences ................................................................................................................................................................................. 19  \nAppendix A: Technical Details on Methodology........................................................................................................ 20  \nAppendix B: Threats to Validity ......................................................................................................................................... 21  \nAppendix C: Additional Tables and Figures..................................................................................................................22  \nExecutive Summary  \nThis study investigates the implementation and impact of the community eligibility provision (CEP) in Maryland schools. The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) is a federal school-based meal service option that allows high poverty schools to provide free breakfast and lunch to all students at no cost. CEP was introduced over the period 2015 to 2022 in Maryland, with some years seeing a large number of schools adopt CEP and other years seeing few new schools adopting the program.1 The largest increases in new CEP schools were in 2015-2016 when the majority of new schools were in Baltimore City and in 2020-2021 when the majority of new schools were in Baltimore County.  \nThe study finds:  \n• On average, participation in free meals increased 13-15 percentage points after CEP was introduced in schools. This change was immediate although there is also some evidence that participation declined after the initial spike.  \n• There were small increases in absenteeism after the introduction of CEP. For example, chronic absenteeism increased 2.1 percentage points compared to eligible non-CEP schools, and this difference was found to be statistically significant. In secondary schools, chronic absenteeism increased by 4.6 percentage points.2  \n• There were also small decreases in suspensions. In secondary schools, the rate of susp","cbCaittPi5km7ewk","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaittPi5km7ewk","pdf",985497,28,"English","# Executive Summary\n# Introduction, Context, and Research Questions\n# Data\n# Methodology\n# Findings\n# Summary and Conclusion\n# References\n# Appendix A: Technical Details on Methodology\n# Appendix B: Threats to Validity\n# Appendix C: Additional Tables and Figures","[{\"question\":\"What is the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) and why does it matter for schools?\",\"answer\":\"CEP is a federal school-based meal service option that lets high-poverty schools provide free breakfast and lunch to all students at no cost. Participating schools must provide meals for all students without charge and receive reimbursement based on the Identified Student Percentage (ISP).\"},{\"question\":\"What changes did the study find after CEP was introduced?\",\"answer\":\"Participation in free meals increased by about 13–15 percentage points after CEP introduction. The study also reports small increases in absenteeism (including chronic absenteeism) and small decreases in suspensions in secondary schools, with effects that may shift over time.\"},{\"question\":\"Does the report explain why the impacts occurred?\",\"answer\":\"The study does not establish causal reasons for the observed impacts. It indicates limited test-score evidence and offers considerations such as the lack of evidence that pandemic-affected school years or other programs (e.g., Maryland Meals for Achievement) drove the study’s overall conclusions.\"}]","The Impact of the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) on Maryland Students | PDF",1792053664,71]