Miscounting Poor Students
Billions of dollars in federal aid and virtually every metric for assessing achievement gaps rely on an accurate system for counting students from low-income families.
THE NUMBER OF POOR students enrolled in a particular school or living in a certain school district is one of the most important education data points that exists, and the stakes are high for getting the count right.
The figures are used to direct billions of dollars in federal and state aid, and they're a pillar of K-12 accountability systems that ensure disadvantaged students are keeping up with their wealthier peers.
But the method that's traditionally used to track them – how many students qualify for free and reduced-priced lunch – is no longer a reliable proxy for poverty as eligibility for the school lunch program has expanded in recent years. And getting an accurate count is becoming more difficult in part due to increasing numbers of students in the country illegally and students from immigrant families, both of whom are wary of enrolling in government benefit programs amid the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration.
"This is a prime example of a really wonky, not-sexy problem that is extremely important," Ary Amerikaner, vice president for P-12 policy, practice, and research at The Education Trust, says. "These data underlie a huge number of critical decisions in the education world."
As just one example, Title I, the largest federal K-12 program, directs $14.5 billion annually to school districts with lots of poor students to ensure they have access to the same types of learning opportunities as wealthier children. For decades, school districts have relied on the number of students enrolled in the school lunch program in order to identify which specific schools are serving the most poor students. Moreover, schools use that count when assessing achievement gaps, namely whether poor students are keeping up academically with wealthier students and, if not, whether they are at least making gains – metrics used in accountability systems in every school district in the country.
Traditionally, the number of poor students was determined by the number of students who enrolled in the National School Lunch Program, which provides free or reduced-price lunches to students whose families make less than 130 percent or 185 percent of the federal poverty level, respectively. But in 2010, in the wake of the Great Recession, Congress adopted two important policy changes aimed at expanding eligibility, which in turn muddied the count.
First, it expanded what's known as "direct certification," which assumes students qualify for free and reduced-price lunch if they already receive other types of government support, like participation in the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps. Second, and most importantly, Congress expanded what's known as the "community eligibility provision," which allows schools to provide free lunch to all students, including to those CONTINUE READING: Why It’s Getting Harder to Count Poor Children in the Nation’s Schools | Education News | US News
