This study was designed to investigate the influence of poverty and parent marital status on eighth grade student achievement as measured by the EXPLORE, a precursor to the ACT. The sample included 520 eighth grade students at a middle school in West Kentucky--parent marital status, free/reduced lunch status, and EXPLORE test scores were obtained…

The purpose of this quantitative study was to identify the instructional leadership practices that develop a growth mindset in teachers and to determine if the evaluation model will lead to enhanced pedagogical practices. Schools were separated into schools of affluence and poverty. Schools of affluence had less than a 35% free and reduced lunch…

The National School Lunch Program's (NSLP) original goal was to help students in need, but policy changes in the past decade have made students from middle-income and upper-income families eligible for federally funded school meals. The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), an expansion of the NSLP enacted in 2010, effectively created a federal…

The FNS Research Corner provides a continuing series to summarize recently completed and current research conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) in the area of child nutrition. Summaries of recently completed research projects and in-progress research are provided in this article.

The FNS Research Corner provides a continuing series to summarize recently completed and current research conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) in the area of child nutrition. Summaries of recently completed research projects, research conducted through grant activities, and in-progress research are…

The purpose of this slide deck is to shine a spotlight on education in the American South with a focus on equity and to provide an understanding of the historical, social, political, and economic context in which the education sector operates. Any movement serious about improving education and life outcomes for underserved student groups --…

This report presents findings from the Access Evaluation, a study component that is designed to assess the potential impacts of direct certification-Medicaid (DC-M) on students' access to free school meals by conducting retrospective simulations of DC-M in school year 2011-2012, the year before the demonstration began. For the Access Evaluation,…

This Kids Count data book examines statewide trends in the well-being of Kentucky's children. The statistical portrait is based on indicators of child well-being in the areas of: (1) child poverty; (2) family types; (4) child living arrangements and parental employment; (4) births; (5) child and teen deaths; (6) economic security; (7) student…