SCCORE.org: Glossary

Poverty:

Throughout this report, we use participation in the Free and Reduced Price Meal Program (or FARM) as an indicator of poverty.
Only families with income below 100% of the poverty line are considered to be officially living in poverty.
The poverty line is a controversial measure; created in 1964, it is only based on food prices with low inflation.
Costs of housing, transportation, etc., have high inflation; 100% of the poverty line is inaccurate.
Families with income below 200% (or twice) the poverty line are low-income families living in poverty.
Only students whose family income is below 200% (or less than twice) of the poverty line is eligible.
Participation in FARM underestimates actual poverty: eligible students do not apply due to embarrassment.
We define schools where 70-100% of the students are on subsidized meals as HIGH POVERTY.
We define schools where 30-70% of the students are on subsidized meals as AVERAGE.
We define schools where 0-30% of the students are on subsidized meals as LOW POVERTY.