First generation resource allocation studies examined relationships between student learning and the availability of resources to a school or district. This article analyzes the transition from these early inquiries to more recent studies of resource flow into the individual classroom, and considers the contributions economists can make to such…

Several conceptions of schooling are outcome-bound: input-output models, school effectiveness models, classroom learning models, and systems theory models. Problems with each of these conceptions are identified, followed by a brief discussion of an outcome-free approach in which schools are viewed as cultural ecologies. (BW)

The relationship of teachers' allocation of time to individual student achievement was studied. It was concluded that teachers prefer to increase students' average achievement rather than to decrease the variance in achievement within the classroom. (MH)