Evaluation of the Danish School Lunch Program

Last registered on April 13, 2026
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Evaluation of the Danish School Lunch Program
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0018291
Initial registration date
April 06, 2026

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
April 13, 2026, 9:11 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

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Primary Investigator

Name
Simon Calmar Andersen
Affiliation
Aarhus University
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Helena Skyt Nielsen
PI Affiliation
Aarhus University
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Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2026-01-01
End date
2029-12-31
Keywords
Education
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
I18; I24; 38
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
This pre-analysis plan concerns the evaluation of the Danish School Lunch Program (DSLP). The program is rolled out as a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) in the period 2025-2028 in around 130 public and around 50 private independent schools in Denmark with the purpose of improving health, well-being, and academic performance.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Andersen, Simon Calmar and Helena Skyt Nielsen. 2026. "Evaluation of the Danish School Lunch Program." AEA RCT Registry. April 13. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.18291-1.0
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Schools offer either free lunch (around 70% of schools), lunch offered at a price of 15 DKK per day (around 15%) and lunch offered at a price of 25 DKK per day (around 15%).
Intervention Start Date
2026-01-01
Intervention End Date
2029-06-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Number of days absent
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
We use the following rules: (i) In grade 9, we count days until 1st of May, where the exam period starts, while for other grade levels, we count days for the entire school year. (ii) If a student switches school in the middle of a month, we use the same number of absent days for both schools. (iii) If a student starts school in the middle of a month, we only count days from the start date. (iv) If the baseline measure of absent days is missing (e.g. for grade 0 or for students arriving from abroad or from private/independent schools), we include an indicator for missing baseline value.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
See pre-analysis plan (PAP).
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We treat each of the large schools that signed up two or three grade level tiers as a stratum. The grade level tiers are grades 0-3, grades 4-6, and grades 7-9. We randomly draw one of the tiers that the school had signed up as a treatment tier, and the other one or two tiers as control tier(s). In our main analyses, we disregard small schools and large schools signed up with only one tier.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization done by computer (Stata with set seed).
Randomization Unit
The clusters are grade level tiers. Strata are schools.
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
130 class level tiers in treatment group, about 200 in control group, i.e., about 330 in total.
Sample size: planned number of observations
About 26,000 treated students and about 39,000 students in control group in the first year.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
130 class level tiers are treated, about 200 are in control group.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials

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IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Aarhus University’s Research Ethics Committee
IRB Approval Date
2025-11-05
IRB Approval Number
BSS-2025-144-A
Analysis Plan

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