Average Reading Scale Scores and Achievement-Level Results by Student Eligibility for Free/Reduced-Price Lunch

• Both fourth-graders who were eligible for free or reduced-price school lunch and those who were not eligible scored higher, on average, and had higher percentages of students performing at or above Basic, in 2005 than in 1998. Fourth-graders eligible for free or reduced-price school lunch scored higher, on average, and had a higher percentage of students at or above Basic in 2005 than in 2003.
• Eighth-graders not eligible for free or reduced-price lunch showed a decrease in average reading score and percentage of students at or above Basic between 2003 and 2005.