A recent literature provides new evidence that school resources are important for student outcomes. In this paper, we show that school finance reform-induced increases in student performance are driven by those states that had test-based accountability policies in place at the time. By incentivizing school improvement, accountability systems (such…

Data-driven decision making has become part of the lexicon for educational reform efforts. Supported by the federal No Child Left Behind legislation, the use of data to inform educational decisions has become a common-place practice across the country. Using an online survey administered to central office data leaders in all Virginia public school…

Reforms in American public education have not resolved the wide academic performance gap between students attending schools in poor, large, urban centers versus schools in wealthier areas. Aggregate performance outcomes on state achievement tests reveal that some school districts consistently outperform others, a few fluctuate over time but are…

High Stakes brings the voices of students and teachers to national debates over school accountability and educational reform. Recounting the experiences of two classrooms during one academic year, the book offers a critical exploration of excessive state-mandated monitoring, high-stakes testing pressures, and inequities in public school funding…

As part of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), the U. S. Department of Education determined that state education agencies could submit a consolidated application to obtain funds from many federal programs through a single, consolidated application. Title II-D Enhancing Education through Technology (EdTech), is one of thirteen programs that could…

Three components of the teacher shortage are the recruitment challenge, the retention problem, and the demand for teacher quality. Although the teacher shortage problem involves many factors, any solution must address salaries. Rural districts face a threefold disadvantage: teachers are not compensated as well as other rural professionals; rural…

This research snapshot provides answers to some of the key questions about budgeted revenues and expenditures within U.S. public school systems. The questions are as follows: (1) Why is information about school district budgets important? (2) How are school district budgets generally allocated? (3) To what extent do districts' expenditures vary by…