Food Insecurity, the National School Lunch Program and Educational Achievement: Evidence from Georgia's Public Schools

Summary

In 2011, nearly 1.7 million Georgians or 17.9% of the population lived in poverty, and of those, 24.8% were children. Research indicates that hungry children do more poorly in school and have lower academic achievement because they are not well prepared for school and cannot concentrate. This research examines the relationship between food insecurity, the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and academic achievement in Georgia of 5th grade students in Georgia.

Situation

In 2011, nearly 1.7 million Georgians or 17.9% of the population lived in poverty, and of those, 24.8% were children. According to the USDA, 635,000 (16.9%) households in Georgia were food insecure from 2008-2010, and approximately 240,000 households in Georgia (6.4%) were classified as very low food secure. Poverty is closely associated with food insecurity, and food insecurity has been associated with various developmental consequences for U.S. children. Food insecurity in early childhood can limit a child's cognitive and socio-emotional development, ultimately impairing school achievement and thus long-term productivity and economic potential.

Response

Our research examined the relationship between food insecurity, the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and academic achievement of 5th grade students in Georgia. The hypothesis we tested is that there is a strong inverse relationship between poverty/food insecurity, as exhibited by participation in NSLP, and achievement test scores in reading and mathematics. To measure student achievement, the “achievement” and “exceeding standards” scores were used as dependent variables. In a generalized linear model framework, a Poisson regression was used to model the percentage of those achieving standards. To account for the differences in school enrollment levels, an offset was used, modeled as the log of FTE. Further, the data were clustered in counties, with the assumption that schools within counties would share similar characteristics, and a multilevel Poisson model was used to capture this clustered data.

Impact

Our findings confirm the hypothesis that there exists a strong inverse relationship between poverty, as exhibited by participation in NSLP, and achievement test scores. Three factors significantly predicted achievement scores in school i within county j: poverty rate, percent of the county who are college graduates, and percent of county residents who are Asian in ethnic origin. The multiplicative effects for college graduate and percent Asian are close to one, indicating that, while the coefficients are significant, they have little effect on achievement, after controlling for the other variables in the model. Poverty rate is most informative, and we see that the higher the poverty rate, the lower was the average achievement score. Holding other things constant, a 1% increase in the poverty rate demonstrated lowered achievement scores by a multiplicative rate of 0.7692. That is, the higher the percentage of children receiving free or reduced-price lunches, the lower was the percentage of children meeting standards on the Reading and Math sections of the CRCT. Interestingly, once the income/poverty level, education of parent(s), and single parent effects for the household were accounted, race/ethnic group differences diminished or were insignificant indicators of successful achievement.

State Issue

Economic Well-being for Individuals and Families

Details

• Year: 2012
• Geographic Scope: State
• County: Clarke
• Program Areas:
  • Agriculture & Natural Resources