Author: Helen Ladd
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
ISBN: 9780815721215
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 412
Book Description
"Perhaps the most urgent—and complex—task facing American education today is to figure out how to hold schools accountable for improved academic achievement. In this important new work, Helen Ladd and her colleagues describe the options available to policymakers, weigh their respective strengths and pitfalls, and lay out principles for creating schools where learning is the number one objective. This book should be at the top of the reading list for anyone seriously interested in transforming the quality of American schools."—Edward B. Fiske, Former Education Editor, The New York Times A central theme of current efforts to reform elementary and secondary education in the United States is a more explicit focus on the outcomes of the educational system. This volume examines efforts throughout the country to hold schools accountable for the academic performance of their students. Researchers from various disciplines—most notably, economics, educational policy and management, and political science—address a range of questions related to performance- based strategies for reforming education. The authors describe and evaluate programs that recognize and reward the most effective schools, discuss the costs of achieving high performance, summarize what is known about parental choice as an accountability mechanism, and provide new evidence on the relationship between school inputs and educational outcomes. Grounded in the actual experiences of various states and school districts, the book provides a wealth of new information and provocative insights. Contributors argue that programs to hold schools accountable for student performance must be carefully designed to assure that schools are treated fairly; that vouchers, if used, should be directed toward low-income families; that resources do indeed matter—poor school districts may well require additional funding to increase student learning. In addition to the editor, the contributors include Charles T. Clotfelter, David K. Cohen, Richard F. Elmore, Ronald F. Ferguson, Susan H. Fuhrman, Eric A. Hanushek, Caroline Minter Hoxby, Richard J. Murnane, John F. Witte, and John McHenry Yinger.
Holding Schools Accountable
Author: Helen Ladd
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
ISBN: 9780815721215
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 412
Book Description
"Perhaps the most urgent—and complex—task facing American education today is to figure out how to hold schools accountable for improved academic achievement. In this important new work, Helen Ladd and her colleagues describe the options available to policymakers, weigh their respective strengths and pitfalls, and lay out principles for creating schools where learning is the number one objective. This book should be at the top of the reading list for anyone seriously interested in transforming the quality of American schools."—Edward B. Fiske, Former Education Editor, The New York Times A central theme of current efforts to reform elementary and secondary education in the United States is a more explicit focus on the outcomes of the educational system. This volume examines efforts throughout the country to hold schools accountable for the academic performance of their students. Researchers from various disciplines—most notably, economics, educational policy and management, and political science—address a range of questions related to performance- based strategies for reforming education. The authors describe and evaluate programs that recognize and reward the most effective schools, discuss the costs of achieving high performance, summarize what is known about parental choice as an accountability mechanism, and provide new evidence on the relationship between school inputs and educational outcomes. Grounded in the actual experiences of various states and school districts, the book provides a wealth of new information and provocative insights. Contributors argue that programs to hold schools accountable for student performance must be carefully designed to assure that schools are treated fairly; that vouchers, if used, should be directed toward low-income families; that resources do indeed matter—poor school districts may well require additional funding to increase student learning. In addition to the editor, the contributors include Charles T. Clotfelter, David K. Cohen, Richard F. Elmore, Ronald F. Ferguson, Susan H. Fuhrman, Eric A. Hanushek, Caroline Minter Hoxby, Richard J. Murnane, John F. Witte, and John McHenry Yinger.
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
ISBN: 9780815721215
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 412
Book Description
"Perhaps the most urgent—and complex—task facing American education today is to figure out how to hold schools accountable for improved academic achievement. In this important new work, Helen Ladd and her colleagues describe the options available to policymakers, weigh their respective strengths and pitfalls, and lay out principles for creating schools where learning is the number one objective. This book should be at the top of the reading list for anyone seriously interested in transforming the quality of American schools."—Edward B. Fiske, Former Education Editor, The New York Times A central theme of current efforts to reform elementary and secondary education in the United States is a more explicit focus on the outcomes of the educational system. This volume examines efforts throughout the country to hold schools accountable for the academic performance of their students. Researchers from various disciplines—most notably, economics, educational policy and management, and political science—address a range of questions related to performance- based strategies for reforming education. The authors describe and evaluate programs that recognize and reward the most effective schools, discuss the costs of achieving high performance, summarize what is known about parental choice as an accountability mechanism, and provide new evidence on the relationship between school inputs and educational outcomes. Grounded in the actual experiences of various states and school districts, the book provides a wealth of new information and provocative insights. Contributors argue that programs to hold schools accountable for student performance must be carefully designed to assure that schools are treated fairly; that vouchers, if used, should be directed toward low-income families; that resources do indeed matter—poor school districts may well require additional funding to increase student learning. In addition to the editor, the contributors include Charles T. Clotfelter, David K. Cohen, Richard F. Elmore, Ronald F. Ferguson, Susan H. Fuhrman, Eric A. Hanushek, Caroline Minter Hoxby, Richard J. Murnane, John F. Witte, and John McHenry Yinger.
The Neglected Role of School District Revenue Instability
Author: Rekha Balu
Publisher: Stanford University
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 206
Book Description
Much of the school finance literature has focused on the distribution or equality of resources across school districts. Such literature compares levels of spending between school districts or states. But it has ignored the variability and unpredictability of those revenues within school districts over time. Meanwhile, public finance literature has focused on states or counties, and disregarded school districts as a unit of analysis for responses to fiscal stress. This dissertation addresses these gaps. First, drawing from techniques both within and outside of public finance, I contribute a new measure of fiscal stress based on unpredictability of state revenues. Second, I explicitly assess policy and tax mechanisms that may aggravate revenue instability for school districts and to what extent instability changes over time. Finally, I examine school districts response to chronic unpredictability in state revenues. Despite states' increasing reliance on more volatile sales and income taxes to fund public education, I find that unpredictability in state revenues to districts has declined by one-fourth of a standard deviation over time. In states that shifted to the more volatile sales and income tax base while also centralizing school finance as part of efforts to equalize school funding, unpredictability in state revenues to districts declined by a full standard deviation. In effect, centralization and more equal distribution of funding appears to trump the effects of a volatile tax base, as states have a greater ability to buffer against shocks than local education agencies do. Yet districts still face uncertain and unstable revenues from the states, aggravated by economic downturns. With primary and secondary data, I study the case of California where districts face uncertain cuts to their allocations during the year and between years. I use three key fiscal health measures: average revenue instability over time, whether revenues declined in the prior period, and the experience of the budget officer. I find that highly unstable districts are more likely to raise local revenues, but that cost-cutting is more prevalent that revenue-raising. Experienced budget officers use a greater variety of policy instruments to cope with instability, pointing to the under-explored role of management in the fiscal health of a district. These findings as a whole suggest that revenue instability merits further attention in the school finance literature in particular and public management in general. Unpredictability in states revenues is a phenomenon that concerns school districts, one that changes over time, but one to which they may adapt.
Publisher: Stanford University
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 206
Book Description
Much of the school finance literature has focused on the distribution or equality of resources across school districts. Such literature compares levels of spending between school districts or states. But it has ignored the variability and unpredictability of those revenues within school districts over time. Meanwhile, public finance literature has focused on states or counties, and disregarded school districts as a unit of analysis for responses to fiscal stress. This dissertation addresses these gaps. First, drawing from techniques both within and outside of public finance, I contribute a new measure of fiscal stress based on unpredictability of state revenues. Second, I explicitly assess policy and tax mechanisms that may aggravate revenue instability for school districts and to what extent instability changes over time. Finally, I examine school districts response to chronic unpredictability in state revenues. Despite states' increasing reliance on more volatile sales and income taxes to fund public education, I find that unpredictability in state revenues to districts has declined by one-fourth of a standard deviation over time. In states that shifted to the more volatile sales and income tax base while also centralizing school finance as part of efforts to equalize school funding, unpredictability in state revenues to districts declined by a full standard deviation. In effect, centralization and more equal distribution of funding appears to trump the effects of a volatile tax base, as states have a greater ability to buffer against shocks than local education agencies do. Yet districts still face uncertain and unstable revenues from the states, aggravated by economic downturns. With primary and secondary data, I study the case of California where districts face uncertain cuts to their allocations during the year and between years. I use three key fiscal health measures: average revenue instability over time, whether revenues declined in the prior period, and the experience of the budget officer. I find that highly unstable districts are more likely to raise local revenues, but that cost-cutting is more prevalent that revenue-raising. Experienced budget officers use a greater variety of policy instruments to cope with instability, pointing to the under-explored role of management in the fiscal health of a district. These findings as a whole suggest that revenue instability merits further attention in the school finance literature in particular and public management in general. Unpredictability in states revenues is a phenomenon that concerns school districts, one that changes over time, but one to which they may adapt.
Selected Papers in School Finance
Handbook of Research in Education Finance and Policy
Author: Helen F. Ladd
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135041067
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 693
Book Description
Sponsored by the Association for Education Finance and Policy (AEFP), the second edition of this groundbreaking handbook assembles in one place the existing research-based knowledge in education finance and policy, with particular attention to elementary and secondary education. Chapters from the first edition have been fully updated and revised to reflect current developments, new policies, and recent research. With new chapters on teacher evaluation, alternatives to traditional public schooling, and cost-benefit analysis, this volume provides a readily available current resource for anyone involved in education finance and policy. The Handbook of Research in Education Finance and Policy traces the evolution of the field from its initial focus on school inputs and revenue sources used to finance these inputs, to a focus on educational outcomes and the larger policies used to achieve them. Chapters show how decision making in school finance inevitably interacts with decisions about governance, accountability, equity, privatization, and other areas of education policy. Because a full understanding of important contemporary issues requires inputs from a variety of perspectives, the Handbook draws on contributors from a number of disciplines. Although many of the chapters cover complex, state-of-the-art empirical research, the authors explain key concepts in language that non-specialists can understand. This comprehensive, balanced, and accessible resource provides a wealth of factual information, data, and wisdom to help educators improve the quality of education in the United States.
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135041067
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 693
Book Description
Sponsored by the Association for Education Finance and Policy (AEFP), the second edition of this groundbreaking handbook assembles in one place the existing research-based knowledge in education finance and policy, with particular attention to elementary and secondary education. Chapters from the first edition have been fully updated and revised to reflect current developments, new policies, and recent research. With new chapters on teacher evaluation, alternatives to traditional public schooling, and cost-benefit analysis, this volume provides a readily available current resource for anyone involved in education finance and policy. The Handbook of Research in Education Finance and Policy traces the evolution of the field from its initial focus on school inputs and revenue sources used to finance these inputs, to a focus on educational outcomes and the larger policies used to achieve them. Chapters show how decision making in school finance inevitably interacts with decisions about governance, accountability, equity, privatization, and other areas of education policy. Because a full understanding of important contemporary issues requires inputs from a variety of perspectives, the Handbook draws on contributors from a number of disciplines. Although many of the chapters cover complex, state-of-the-art empirical research, the authors explain key concepts in language that non-specialists can understand. This comprehensive, balanced, and accessible resource provides a wealth of factual information, data, and wisdom to help educators improve the quality of education in the United States.
The Challenge of Fiscal Disparities for State and Local Governments
Author: Helen F. Ladd
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 520
Book Description
A collection of 25 years of policy-oriented research in the area of state and local public finance by a professor of public studies and economics at Duke University. Part I addresses fiscal disparities across local jurisdictions and the design of intergovernmental aid programs, and Part II examines the design of taxes and tax structures, with material on tax limitation measures. Part III deals with the interaction between taxes and land use, including fiscal effects of rapid population growth and the use of tax subsidies to promote growth in urban areas. Part IV focuses on education finance. No index. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 520
Book Description
A collection of 25 years of policy-oriented research in the area of state and local public finance by a professor of public studies and economics at Duke University. Part I addresses fiscal disparities across local jurisdictions and the design of intergovernmental aid programs, and Part II examines the design of taxes and tax structures, with material on tax limitation measures. Part III deals with the interaction between taxes and land use, including fiscal effects of rapid population growth and the use of tax subsidies to promote growth in urban areas. Part IV focuses on education finance. No index. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
A New School Finance for a New Era of Fiscal Constraint
Author: Michael W. Kirst
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 102
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 102
Book Description
Resources in Education
Financial Accounting for Local and State School Systems
School Governance in an Era of Retrenchment
Author: William Lowe Boyd
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Community and school
Languages : en
Pages : 272
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Community and school
Languages : en
Pages : 272
Book Description