Effects of the National School Meal Option, Provision 2, on Academic Achievement in Literacy and Mathematics

The purpose of this dissertation was to provide research-based information to educational leaders to assist them in making informed decisions relating to the participation in the National School Lunch Special Assistance Provision 2 Meal Option in the state of Arkansas. This study consists of four, rural Arkansas elementary schools that are all at a 70% or higher free-reduced meal status for the qualifying student population. Data were collected from the 2010 ACTAAP test scores from 193 Grade 4 students in literacy and mathematics from the four Arkansas elementary schools. Demographics from the four elementary schools were similar based on free-reduced meal status, race, gender, and overall student population to assist in determining relevancy of the study. This study used a casual comparative strategy and used a 2 x 2 factorial analysis of variance to analyze the data collected for each of the four hypotheses. The results of the study showed no significant interaction effects between Provision 2 and gender or race on literacy or mathematics. However, the main effects of gender and race on literacy were significant. In addition, the main effect of gender on mathematics was not significant but was significant for race. Therefore, the data indicated that future studies vii might investigate more in the area of girls performing better compared to boys in the area of literacy and mathematics for fourth-grade students whether the school participated in Provision 2 or did not participate. In addition, Black students scored higher compared to the White students in both participating Provision 2 schools and non-participating schools for literacy and mathematics. The participating Provision 2 females outscored their peers and the boys from both races in literacy and mathematics