The Availability of Measures of Advantage and Disadvantage in Administrative Data

• In Event: Defining and Measuring Advantage and Disadvantage in Education

Abstract

The third author surveys the landscape of existing measures of student poverty in state administrative data—at a time when many states are seeking to revise their measures of poverty and (dis)advantage (Blagg et al., 2021)—and explores key tensions and considerations for constructing these new measures. Policymakers and researchers have used school-meal based measures of poverty largely because they have been available for decades. However, the recent availability of universal free meal programs has further complicated an already lacking indicator of student economic means. Newer measures like direct certification rely on the state-specific administration of social safety net programs, resulting in a measure that is not necessarily aligned with true economic need (Gutierrez, 2021).

The author will detail the often overlooked context of these administrative measures and sources (i.e., Common Core of Data, state report card websites) and discuss how other data (e.g., population characteristics) can add nuance to indicators of student economic need. This presentation will also discuss how data from other sources such as the Statistical Area Income Poverty Estimates, School Neighborhood Poverty measures, and Urban Institute's Modeled Estimates of Poverty in Schools can shed light and context on the uses of administrative measures. This research raises opportunities for states to construct better measures of (dis)advantage with data they already collect, provides concrete recommendations for how states can use these data, and what limitations still remain.

Author

• Emily Gutierrez, Urban Institute
  Presenting Author