Student need · K-12 education statistics
Community Eligibility Provision(CEP)
A rule letting high-need schools serve free meals to all students — which breaks free-lunch share as a poverty measure.
The Community Eligibility Provision lets a school or district with a high enough share of directly certified students (those already identified through other benefit programmes) provide free meals to every enrolled student, without collecting individual applications.
Its effect on data is large and easy to miss. A participating school reports all students as eligible, so its free-lunch share becomes 100% by construction. Any trend line or district ranking built on free-lunch share will show participating schools as maximally poor and will show an artificial jump in the year they joined. This is the single most common reason an education poverty comparison is wrong.
Also known as: CEP, universal free meals.
See community eligibility provision in the data
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Community Eligibility Provision — FAQ
What is community eligibility provision in school and district data?+
A rule letting high-need schools serve free meals to all students — which breaks free-lunch share as a poverty measure. The Community Eligibility Provision lets a school or district with a high enough share of directly certified students (those already identified through other benefit programmes) provide free meals to every enrolled student, without collecting individual applications.
Why does community eligibility provision matter?+
Its effect on data is large and easy to miss. A participating school reports all students as eligible, so its free-lunch share becomes 100% by construction. Any trend line or district ranking built on free-lunch share will show participating schools as maximally poor and will show an artificial jump in the year they joined. This is the single most common reason an education poverty comparison is wrong.
Where does this school and district data come from?+
Core statistics come from the National Center for Education Statistics — the Common Core of Data, EDFacts, and the Civil Rights Data Collection. The most recent graduation rates and state report-card outcomes come directly from state education agencies, which publish sooner than the federal series. pumsdata is independent and not affiliated with NCES or any state agency.