Universal free meals and school suspensions
研究美国学校推行全民免费校餐政策后,学生停学处分的变化,发现小学停学率下降约10%,中学下降约6%,且对之前受益学生较少的学校影响更大。
Abstract We examine whether providing free school meals to all students causes changes in out‐of‐school suspensions for schools adopting those policies in the United States. Using updated data and modern difference‐in‐differences methods that account for staggered adoption, we show suspensions fall by approximately 10% in elementary schools and 6% in middle and high schools, with larger effects in schools that previously served fewer students eligible for free and reduced‐price meals in preadoption periods. These findings contrast with earlier null results, primarily due to better methods that account for staggered program adoption as opposed to the updated dataset.