School-Level Poverty in Education Survey Research

Can Free or Reduced-Price Lunch Be Substituted as a Weighting Variable by Other, More Reliable Measures?

Dorothy Seaman, Joshua Eagan, Claude Messan Setodji

Published May 5, 2026

The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the utility of school-level poverty measures other than free or reduced-price lunch (FRPL) for population representativeness in survey weighting. Comparisons of survey weights derived using alternative measures revealed strong, positive, linear correlations with weights derived using FRPL. Results indicated that the choice of poverty measure did not meaningfully affect population estimates.

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Seaman, Dorothy, Joshua Eagan, and Claude Messan Setodji, School-Level Poverty in Education Survey Research: Can Free or Reduced-Price Lunch Be Substituted as a Weighting Variable by Other, More Reliable Measures? Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2026. https://www.rand.org/pubs/working_papers/WRA4691-1.html.
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Funding for this research was provided through income from the operation of the American Educator Panels. This work was conducted in the Education and Employment Program of RAND Education, Employment, and Infrastructure.

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