Food For Thought: An Analysis of the Relationship Between Food Deserts and Childhood Academic Performance in Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia

Abstract

This study explores the relationship between geographic food deserts and sixth grade academic performance in Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM), Nova Scotia. An ArcGIS Pro Network Analysis was used to map geocoded grocery stores and their service areas based on 1km, 8km, and 16 km driving distance from each store. Test scores representing the percentage of students who met or exceeded provincial learning expectations in both reading and math were gathered for each elementary school within HRM, and then assigned to each geocoded school location on a map. These scores were symbolized using ArcGIS Pro’s quantile distribution, and then spatially overlaid with the results from the grocery Network Analysis. Results were calculated by using the “Select By Location '' tool within ArcGIS Pro to observe which schools fell into a 1km, 8km, 16km, or greater than 16km driving distance from a grocery store. Schools greater than a 16 km driving distance from a grocery store consistently performed within the lowest academic score quantiles, with ~45% of observations falling within the lowest quantile and 0% within the highest quantile in both math and reading. The relationship differed between math and reading scores. Reading scores were correlated to generally decrease as the distance from a grocery store grew. Overall, math scores showed significantly less observations in the highest quantile as well as a significantly greater range of scores. This suggests that there is a correlation between how far a sixth-grade student is from a grocery store with their academic performance, but other variables must be observed to gain a better understanding.