J Acad Nutr Diet. 2020 Feb;120(2):210-218. doi: 10.1016/j.jand.2019.07.022. Epub 2019 Oct 14.
Beginning in 2014-2015, schools nationwide have had the option of offering free meals to all students in qualifying schools through the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP). The CEP has been linked to greater likelihood of eating school meals, but little is known about its impact on broader outcomes.
The purpose of this study was to estimate the association between the CEP and school attendance among elementary school students (grades 1 to 5).
This was a quasi-experimental study in which students' attendance records were observed over 1 baseline and 2 follow-up years in a sample of CEP and eligible non-CEP schools.
PARTICIPANTS/SETTING: The participants were elementary school students in Wisconsin during three consecutive school years beginning 2013-2014. The main sample included 92,126 observation-years for students in 37 CEP and 108 eligible non-CEP elementary schools.
CEP-participating schools offered breakfast and lunch free to all students through the School Breakfast Program and the National School Lunch Program beginning in 2014-2015.
The outcome measures were the attendance rate (defined as the percentage of school days attended) and low attendance (defined as attending fewer than 95% of available days) during the first and second implementation years.
Difference-in-difference regression models with student fixed effects were estimated, with separate impacts for the first and second CEP years. Models adjusted for time-varying school and student characteristics.
Implementing the CEP had no association with attendance in the initial year. The second year of CEP was associated with a 3.5 percentage point reduction in the percentage of students with low attendance (P=0.045). An association between CEP and attendance was only found for economically disadvantaged students.
Offering meals free to all students through the CEP may modestly reduce the risk of low attendance among economically disadvantaged students in participating schools.
自 2014-2015 年以来，全国各学校可通过社区资格条款（CEP）向符合条件的学校的所有学生提供免费膳食。CEP 与更有可能食用学校餐食有关，但对其更广泛的影响知之甚少。
本研究旨在评估 CEP 与小学生（1 至 5 年级）的学校出勤率之间的关联。
这是一项准实验研究，在 CEP 和符合条件的非 CEP 学校样本中，观察了学生在 1 个基线和 2 个后续年份的出勤记录。
参与者/设置：参与者为 2013-2014 学年连续三个学年期间威斯康星州的小学生。主要样本包括 37 所 CEP 学校和 108 所符合条件的非 CEP 小学的 92126 个观测年学生。
从 2014-2015 年开始，参加 CEP 的学校通过学校早餐计划和国家学校午餐计划向所有学生免费提供早餐和午餐。
第一年和第二年的出勤率（定义为上学天数的百分比）和低出勤率（定义为出勤天数少于 95%的可用天数）。
采用学生固定效应的差分模型进行估计，分别对第一年和第二年的 CEP 进行了影响。模型调整了随时间变化的学校和学生特征。
实施 CEP 与初始年度的出勤率没有关联。CEP 的第二年与低出勤率学生比例降低 3.5 个百分点（P=0.045）相关。只有在经济弱势群体学生中，CEP 与出勤率之间才存在关联。
通过 CEP 向所有学生提供免费膳食可能会适度降低参与学校经济弱势群体学生低出勤率的风险。
