Income Verification Pilot Project (IVPP): Findings on School Meal Program Participation and Legislative Impact, 1981-82 School Year.

Reported in this document are findings of a preliminary analysis of congressionally mandated changes in the application process for government-sponsored school meal benefits and an examination of low-cost quality assurance procedures implemented in Phase I of the Income Verification Pilot Project (IVPP). Discussion is based on an analysis of two of three data sources used to evaluate Phase I quality assurance procedures: (1) meal benefit program eligibility and participation records, and (2) abstracts of meal benefit applications. Six chapters respectively provide a review of the background and current status of Phase I; an analysis of the effects of congressionally mandated application changes and experimental quality assurance procedures on program eligibility and costs to the Federal government; an analysis of the effects of congressionally mandated application changes and experimental quality assurance procedures on meal benefit applications; a summary of findings; a discussion of implications of findings; and appendices describing the statistical methods used in estimating effects and providing sample meal benefit applications. (RH)