For the 2000-01 school year, $94,137 was reported as the mean of assistant superintendents' average salaries and $77,768 as the mean of directors' of finance and business average salaries. Salaries are affected by geographic region, enrollment size, and per-pupil spending. Increases have kept up with CPI cost of living increases. (MLH)

Recent research shows that variation in teacher quality has large effects on student performance. However, this research is based entirely on student test scores. Focusing on high-school math teachers, this paper evaluates teacher quality in terms of another educational outcome of great interest--graduation. I use a unique instrumental variables…

U.S. society proposes that all students should have equal opportunities to achieve academically; therefore, urban and rural schools that serve socio-economically disadvantaged students must employ highly qualified teachers who are prepared to teach in those particular school environments. Recruitment practices, teacher preparation programs, and…

The question examined in this paper is whether variability in the quantity of schooling students receive in different curricular areas is a contributor to observed differences in achievement not only among students attending different high schools, but among students in the same high school. A conceptual framework enumerates the determinants of…

The National Education Association's 1980 survey of school programs and practices involved sending questionnaires to 805 representative school systems serving 300 or more students. Exactly 508 usable questionnaires were returned. Thirteen topical areas were explored: (1) increases and decreases in student enrollment and numbers of teachers; (2)…

Educational strategies that small rural high schools can use to address important developmental needs of rural youth were explored, focusing on the importance of educational environments outside traditional high school classrooms, (i.e., work-experience programs, student exchange programs, and travel-study). Of the 92 Alaskan village high schools…

The Kids Count project is an effort to track the status of children in the United States by providing policymakers and citizens with national and state benchmarks of well-being. This multi-publication packet describes the project and several factors that increase the likelihood of children's academic success. The first of two pamphlets, the…

In Fall 2008, in response to the recent economic downturn, as evidenced in state budget shortfalls, federal buy-outs and interventions, and a series of additional events characterizing a slowing, stagnant economy, AASA examined the impact on school districts across the nation. While there are regional differences, the findings of AASA's…

The fear of violence among students and teachers is straining the learning environment in many schools. This paper presents findings of a study that investigated school district characteristics in relation to the level of principals' expressed needs for school-violence prevention programs. The district characteristics included finance, size,…

Considerable interest in consolidation or reorganization of school districts derives from the perception that consolidation produces significant cost savings due to scale economies in the provision of education. This paper examines potential cost savings from consolidation of New York school districts--an initiative actively encouraged by the…

This paper was commissioned at the request of Kentucky's governor, who wished to ascertain whether state educational costs could be reduced by consolidating small school districts. The issue arises in the context of Kentucky's ongoing efforts to implement the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990 in the face of increasing state fiscal constraints.…

This policy brief summarizes the full report [ED468840], which describes a study that evaluated whether smaller school districts, as a result of their higher costs per pupil, experienced greater hardship in the areas of infrastructure, resources, and staffing. The policy brief reports on the results of a survey that was administered to the…

This paper examines accountability outcomes of Tennessee school districts, comparing rural versus urban districts and litigant versus nonlitigant districts from a 1993 fiscal equity lawsuit. School districts were assigned a measure of rurality using the Cleland Rurality Index, and comparisons were made among the 29 low-rurality districts, 66…

This annual report investigates Kansas' current teacher job market. Data came from surveys of superintendents from all 304 unified school districts, special education directors, directors of teacher education programs, and college placement directors. The nine sections are (1) Historical Perspective, (2) Sources of Data, (3) Relevance of Each Data…

While education is an important legal function of state government, a major portion of school facility funding is still at the local level, and the quality of school buildings varies across most states. This paper addresses how rural school facilities are financed. It provides an overview of school facilities funding in the United States as…