This paper shows that none of the available methods for estimating what it would cost to reach high standards for all children is adequate to the task.
Traditional school finance research tracks how the government distributes funds among school districts.
Instead, we focused on how districts and schools used their funds and how these uses affected students’ learning opportunities. We helped district and school leaders structure policy and allocate funds in ways that use every dollar to the students’ maximum benefit.
This paper shows that none of the available methods for estimating what it would cost to reach high standards for all children is adequate to the task.
This paper is a companion piece to the District Resource Allocation Modeler (DREAM) tool developed by Education Resource Strategies.
This study examines resource allocation patterns across elementary schools and how these patterns differ depending, in part, on various levels of autonomy over resources at the school level.
In this working paper, Michael Kirst suggests that a productive education system would focus relatively greater resources on out-of-school interventions, especially for the most disadvantaged children. He argues that such interventions could help teachers and...
This paper shows how districts can assess the efficiency of their own resource use compared to similar districts and judge whether non-instructional expenditures are excessive.
When school boards enter contracts with teachers unions, they determine the use of nearly half of all the funds available to public education. In this paper Julia Koppich looks at an important source of resource...
This paper explores ways districts can reduce the costs (in terms of lost school productivity and lost training investments) of teacher turnover.
This report analyzes the incentives under which public school teachers and leaders work. It concludes that there are few rewards for producing high levels of student achievement and many rewards for work that does not...
New accountability systems require that states and districts accomplish something never accomplished before—ensuring that all students meet state standards. This report explores how these expectations have altered resource decisions in North Carolina.
This paper examines the categorical program strategy by which the federal government and most states try to target extra funds for particular purposes.
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