Education research has consistently demonstrated that students’ socioeconomic status is correlated with their performance on standardized tests.[*] The percentage of students who qualify for the National School Lunch Program is a common measure of a group’s socioeconomic status, since eligibility for the program is based on the household income of a student’s parents or guardians.[9] Qualifying students receive a federally subsidized free or reduced-price lunch.
In 2000, the earliest year for which standardized national data are available that include both Michigan and Florida, 44.3 percent of Florida students were NSLP-eligible, while only 29.3 percent of Michigan students were (see Graphic 5). Michigan’s portion of NSLP-eligible students increased more rapidly than Florida’s from 2000 to 2011, but the Sunshine State still maintained a higher proportion of qualifying students in 2011, the latest year for which data are available: 56.0 percent, compared to Michigan’s 45.4 percent.[†]
Graphic 5: Percentage of Students Qualifying for the National School Lunch Program in Michigan and Florida, 2000-2011
School Year |
Michigan |
Florida |
Percentage |
2000 |
29.31% |
44.26% |
51.0% |
2001 |
29.29% |
44.32% |
51.3% |
2002 |
31.03% |
44.62% |
43.8% |
2003 |
30.98% |
45.23% |
46.0% |
2004 |
32.45% |
45.98% |
41.7% |
2005 |
33.39% |
47.36% |
41.8% |
2006 |
35.01% |
45.77% |
30.7% |
2007 |
35.98% |
45.20% |
25.6% |
2008 |
37.05% |
45.58% |
23.0% |
2009 |
41.07% |
49.57% |
20.7% |
2010 |
44.94% |
53.46% |
19.0% |
2011 |
45.35% |
55.97% |
23.4% |
Source: Author’s calculations based on “Common Core of Data,” (National Center for Education Statistics; United States Department of Education), http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/ (accessed Marchn 28, 2012).
Throughout the last decade, as Graphic 6 shows, the proportion of Florida students who were NSLP-eligible was greater than not only that of Michigan, but also that of the United States as a whole. Nationally, 47.6 percent of students were NSLP-eligible in 2011.
Graphic 6: Percentage of Students Qualifying for the National School Lunch Program in the United States, Michigan and Florida, 2000-2011
Source: Author’s calculations based on “Common Core of Data,” (National Center for Education Statistics; United States Department of Education), http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/ (accessed March 28, 2012).
[†] Note that Florida’s student population had a lower socioeconomic profile in every way when measured by NSLP eligibility. In each year from 2000 to 2011, Florida had a higher percentage of students qualifying for a free lunch; in each year from 2000 to 2011, Florida had a higher percentage of students qualifying for a reduced-price lunch.
[9] For more information about this program, see “National School Lunch Program,” (United States Department of Agriculture), http://goo.gl/7YtpI (accessed May 31, 2013).