Project Activities
The research team will obtain and assemble the Michigan Longitudinal Student Data System (MSLDS) data into longitudinal analytic files representing school years 2022-23 through 2025-26. MDE will provide longitudinal school files with information on the racial and socioeconomic composition of the school, whether the school participates in universal free meals through the federal Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), and the number and type (free, reduced, paid) of meals served each year. The research team will then employ both descriptive and quasi-experimental techniques to investigate the research questions.
Structured Abstract
Setting
This study takes place in Michigan public and charter schools.
Sample
The MSLDS sample will include data for elementary, middle, and high school students in Michigan public or charter schools between the school years 2022-23 and 2025-26.
The temporary provision of universal free meals by the federal government during the COVID-19 pandemic in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years prompted the state of Michigan (and seven other states) to implement statewide universal free meals in the 2023-24 school year through the MSM program. Michigan legislators extended MSM into the 2024-25 school year, but the future of the program is uncertain due to concerns about costs and benefits. State policymakers are particularly interested in how MSM affects student achievement and social well-being (attendance, achievement, and school discipline); as well as educational attainment (high school graduation and postsecondary enrollment) among racial or ethnic groups and those from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
Research design and methods
The empirical approach includes both a descriptive analysis of whether the MSM program influenced the number of breakfasts and lunches served across the state, as well as descriptive and quasi-experimental techniques to examine the association between MSM and student academic outcomes. The research team will use student fixed effects, school fixed effects, and difference-in-differences techniques to answer the research questions. They will conduct heterogeneity analyses by race or ethnicity and by family economic status.
Control condition
The research team will compare student outcomes before and after the MSM. They will also examine whether the association between the MSM policy and student outcomes differ by race or ethnicity, economic well-being (e.g., comparing economically disadvantaged students in low versus high poverty schools), gender, and meal vendors.
Key measures
The key measures include student attendance, academic achievement in English Language Arts and mathematics tests, high school completion, post-secondary enrollment, and indicators for whether students were involved in any type of school discipline incident and whether the student experienced a suspension or expulsion.
Data analytic strategy
The research team will evaluate how the MSM affected the number of school meals served using a school fixed effects model and comparing the within-school number of meals served in the 2022-23 school year, when the MSM was not in place, to the 2023-24 school year and beyond (depending on future legislation). They will next use a student fixed effects model to estimate the within-student change in student achievement, attendance, and school discipline for the same time (before and after the introduction of the MSM program). The research team will couple this with a difference-in-differences analysis comparing student outcomes in schools that were more or less impacted by the MSM (e.g., high poverty schools that were already providing universal free meals through CEP versus slightly lower-poverty schools that were not) before and after the introduction of the MSM. Last, they will incorporate a school fixed effects and difference-in-differences model to examine the association between the MSM and school-level high school graduation and post-secondary enrollment rates.
State decision making
The project team will help policymakers better understand heterogeneity in the associations between MSM and student outcomes to better target future resources and policies with the goal of improving student well-being. The findings from this project will inform the state legislature’s decision whether to continue the MSM program.
People and institutions involved
IES program contact(s)
SubAwardee(s)
Products and publications
The project team will provide regular updates to MDE’s Office of Nutrition Services (ONS), MDE senior leadership, and policymakers in the state through meetings, memos, presentations, and policy briefings. The research team will deliver these to ONS for their use in programmatic decisions. Upon project completion, the research team will present MDE with a policy brief that ONS and UM will host on their websites. The joint UM ONS team will collaboratively develop legislative briefing materials and op-eds, which they will circulate with lawmakers, journalists, and popular media outlets. In addition, the research team will present at academic and practitioner conferences and produce written publications for peer-reviewed journals.
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Questions about this project?
To answer additional questions about this project or provide feedback, please contact the program officer.
