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Let Them Eat Lunch: The Impact of Universal Free Meals on Student Performance
Journal of Policy Analysis and Management ( IF 2.3 ) Pub Date : 2020-03-01 , DOI: 10.1002/pam.22175
Amy Ellen Schwartz , Michah W. Rothbart

This paper investigates the impact of extending free school lunch to all students, regardless of income, on academic performance in New York City middle schools. Using a difference-in-difference design and unique longitudinal, student level data, we derive credibly causal estimates of the impacts of “Universal Free Meals” (UFM) on test scores in English Language Arts (ELA) and mathematics, and participation in school lunch. We find UFM increases academic performance by as much as 0.059 standard deviations in math and 0.083 in ELA for non-poor students, with smaller, statistically significant effects of 0.032 and 0.027 standard deviations in math and ELA for poor students. Further, UFM increases participation in school lunch by roughly 11.0 percentage points for non-poor students and 5.4 percentage points for poor students. We then investigate the academic effects of school lunch participation per se, using UFM as an instrumental variable. Results indicate that increases in school lunch participation improve academic performance for both poor and non-poor students; an additional lunch every two weeks increases test scores by roughly 0.08 standard deviations in math and 0.07 standard deviations in ELA. Finally, we explore potential unintended consequences for student weight outcomes, finding no evidence that UFM increases probability of obesity or overweight, or BMI. Results are robust to an array of alternative assumptions about sample and specifications.

中文翻译:

让他们吃午餐:普遍免费餐对学生表现的影响

本文调查了向所有学生(无论收入如何)提供免费学校午餐对纽约市中学学业成绩的影响。使用差异中的差异设计和独特的纵向学生水平数据,我们得出了“通用免费餐”(UFM) 对英语语言艺术 (ELA) 和数学考试成绩以及入学率影响的可信因果估计午餐。我们发现,对于非贫困学生,UFM 将数学成绩提高了 0.059 标准差,ELA 标准差提高了 0.083,而对于贫困学生,数学和 ELA 标准差的影响较小,具有统计学意义的 0.032 和 0.027 标准差。此外,UFM 将非贫困学生的学校午餐参与率提高了大约 11.0 个百分点,贫困学生则提高了 5.4 个百分点。然后,我们使用 UFM 作为工具变量调查学校午餐参与本身的学术影响。结果表明,学校午餐参与度的增加提高了贫困学生和非贫困学生的学业成绩;每两周多吃一顿午餐,数学考试成绩大约提高 0.08 个标准差,ELA 考试成绩提高 0.07 个标准差。最后,我们探索了对学生体重结果的潜在意外后果,没有发现 UFM 会增加肥胖或超重或 BMI 概率的证据。结果对于关于样本和规格的一系列替代假设是稳健的。结果表明,学校午餐参与度的增加提高了贫困学生和非贫困学生的学业成绩;每两周多吃一顿午餐,数学考试成绩大约提高 0.08 个标准差,ELA 考试成绩提高 0.07 个标准差。最后,我们探索了对学生体重结果的潜在意外后果,没有发现 UFM 会增加肥胖或超重或 BMI 概率的证据。结果对于关于样本和规格的一系列替代假设是稳健的。结果表明,学校午餐参与度的增加提高了贫困学生和非贫困学生的学业成绩;每两周多吃一顿午餐,数学考试成绩大约提高 0.08 个标准差,ELA 考试成绩提高 0.07 个标准差。最后,我们探索了对学生体重结果的潜在意外后果,没有发现 UFM 会增加肥胖或超重或 BMI 概率的证据。结果对于关于样本和规格的一系列替代假设是稳健的。
更新日期:2020-03-01
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