Policymakers and professional educators attempt to be good stewards of public funds while simultaneously raising expectations for student outcomes that reflect academic excellence in the public school system. The purpose of this study was to determine the efficiency of Texas public school districts and the factors influencing the inefficiency of…

Developmental education is often criticized for its expense. Some believe that it represents a failure of secondary education and is, therefore, a redundant expense. Others believe that developmental education serves a vital role in preparing students for college and is, therefore, a necessary expense. This article provides a review of the…

Using input and outcome data from a randomized study of dual-language immersion programs in an urban district, we examine the mediating relationships of dosage, expenditures, and classroom characteristics to students' academic performance, and the moderating role of students' race/ethnicity. Differential costs of immersion were concentrated at the…

Public school critics often point to rising expenditures and relatively flat test scores to justify their school reform agendas. The claims are flawed because their analyses fail to account for the difference in data types between dollars (ratio) and test scores (interval). A cost-benefit analysis using dollars as a common metric for both costs…

This study addresses limitations in a study conducted by James Coleman in 1966, which analyzed aspects of educational equality in the United States--including the relationship between school spending and student outcomes--as well as other studies covering the same topic that stemmed from Coleman's Report. Coleman found that variation in school…

The unemployment rate dropped to 7.8 percent in September, falling below 8 percent for the first time since January 2009. Furthermore, the share of working-age Americans who are employed increased to 58.7 percent, the highest level since May 2010. Employers added 114,000 jobs last month, and an average of more than 145,000 over the past three…

There is growing interest in leveraging Title IV student aid to improve college completion. Advocates have proposed linking funding in the Pell and Campus-Based Programs to measures of college performance. However, to do so in an equitable and efficient manner, raw measures of college output, such as rates of graduation and academic progress, must…

Investing in higher (tertiary) education is one of the more significant decisions a person can make. In some countries, such as Australia, Canada, Japan, Korea, and the United States, the direct costs of higher education can be large, often requiring a significant investment of an individual's personal funds, either in up-front payments or loan…

This article discusses the impact of changing student demographics on financing education and on our national wellbeing. We begin by examining the research of current student demographics and their relationship to learning and education costs. We then calculate a 1% cost factor from the average per-pupil expenditure based on the 2011 "Digest…

The primary purpose of government provided student financial aid is to increase college access by bringing the out-of-pocket price of attendance within reach of more students. The basic idea is quite straightforward. If a good or service costs $100 to buy and the government gives consumers a $50 subsidy, then consumers need only spend $50 of their…

Using fiscal data provided by the finance office of the school district, and personnel data obtained from the California Basic Education Data System (maintained by the California Department of Education, or CDE), the authors present analyses to provide a foundation for local policymakers that may be used to assess whether there are inequities in…

The purpose of this study was to compare multiple regression with canonical analysis in order to introduce a new, policy relevant methodology to the literature on production functions. Findings from this study confirmed the results of past inquiries that found a relationship between the inputs to schooling and measures of student achievement. A…

The relationship of certain input variables to output was determined by a multiple regression analysis, using a sample of 44 suburban elementary school districts. The four input factors were: (1) socioeconomic characteristics, (2) assessed valuation, (3) per-pupil operating expenditure, and (4) educational treatments. The output was mean scores on…

This report analyzes the results of research into the relationships between such inputs as expenditure per pupil and school district size and the average achievement of pupils in basic subjects. The analysis focuses on production function relationships of education. The results of the analysis illustrate the problems involved in constructing…

Analyzes resource allocations in institutions of higher education to undergraduate costs, graduate costs, and faculty research and teaching time in order to determine educational "productivity." Although real undergraduate costs were found to be much lower than previously assumed, cost-based subsidies and the redistributive effects of higher…