Does Free and Reduced Lunch Status of Gadsden Middle School Students Affect Their Academic Performance?
Leslie Calloway, Jan Case This study focuses on the relationship of free or reduced priced meal status and academic performance as measured by grades at a public school in Gadsden, Alabama. Data was collected from sixth graders (n = 148), seventh graders (n = 138), and eighth graders (n = 147). The racial composition of the school is primarily black (64.9%) and white (26.3%) and also included Asian, Hispanic, biracial, and other. Statistical analyses and methods of One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Chi-Square Test , and odds ratio were used to examine the data. Students who received free meals scored significantly lower in all subjects than those who paid for meals. Further, black students were more likely to received free meal status than white students were. This study also investigated gender disparity in academic performance and differences in academic performance between grade levels and race. Females significantly outperformed males in most subjects. Eighth graders scored low
