The annual budgeting process is a valuable opportunity for districts to systematically examine both resource use and programming. They can then use the findings to optimize resource use and improve program efficacy in ways that will lead to increased student achievement. Bo Yan and Thomas Aberli discuss three root causes for districts' inability…

The Maryland State Board of Education and Maryland State Department of Education are developing a multiyear Strategic Plan that will be released in three phases leading up to June 2023. The Strategic Plan will anchor the vision, mission, values, priorities, enablers, goals, and flagship programs, initiatives, and strategies to realize the…

Strategic resourcing is an important goal for K-12 policymakers hoping to better ensure that financial investments result in high-quality instruction and student achievement. But it's a topic where research evidence and district practices are still evolving. Given the emergence of new practices and challenges, data on districts' purchasing…

The Maryland State Board of Education and Maryland State Department of Education are developing a multiyear Strategic Plan that will be released in three phases leading up to June 2023. The Strategic Plan will anchor the vision, mission, values, priorities, enablers, goals, and flagship programs, initiatives, and strategies to realize the…

This report on the funding of school education constitutes the first in a series of thematic comparative reports bringing together findings from the OECD School Resources Review. School systems have limited financial resources with which to pursue their objectives and the design of school funding policies plays a key role in ensuring that…

California educators continue in their struggle to communicate district plans to parents, teachers, and other members of the school community. Local Control Accountability Plans (LCAPs), have ballooned into jargon-laden stacks of tables, impenetrable to all but the most sophisticated reader. Envisioned as a tool to improve transparency, the LCAP…

This report highlights some of the major findings from the 2018 NSSME+. Six major topical areas are addressed: (1) Teacher Background and Beliefs; (2) Science, Mathematics, and Computer Science Professional Development; (3) Science, Mathematics, and Computer Science Courses; (4) Instructional Decision Making, Objectives, and Activities; (5)…

Recently, there has been growing interest in adapting Return-on-Investment thinking to education--sometimes called educational productivity, or academic-ROI. Education leaders do not seek a monetary return on their spending, rather greater student learning, or other outcomes like student citizenship, higher graduation rates, or increased lifetime…

Theory and practice in intercultural education remain problematic as they continue to reflect the tensions between universalistic and particularistic agendas. Particularism is manifested in a culturalist narrative which is mired in a failure to subject relativistic postmodernism to adequate critique. At the same time, universalism is frequently…

This book presents the results and implications of a major new national study exploring the effects of institutional racial composition on African American students' development and their educational outcomes, taking into account individuals' background characteristics, their perceptions of the institutional environment, and their experiences in…

Without a conscious effort to achieve optimum resource allocation, there is a real danger that educational resources may be wasted. This document uses input-output analysis to develop a model for rational decision-making in secondary education. (LLR)

This study attempted to identify the differences in cost-effectiveness analysis methods in order to select the most appropriate one as a decision-assisting aid for instructional management. The study is organized to explore and identify what cost-effectiveness methods are being used, identify and examine the differences among these methods in an…

The major dilemma in educational planning today is not an inability to analyze nor a lack of cost analysis data but an inability to use this data for decision making. (Author/KE)

Schools and school systems will improve their chances of making a good choice of school reform program if they determine: (1) the program's goals and objectives; (2) the program's research base; and (3) the resources, in terms of money and human effort, required to make the program work. (SLD)

Educational Information System (EIS) is a proposed computer-based data processing system to help schools solve current educational problems more efficiently. The system would allow for more effective administrative operations in student scheduling, financial accounting, and long range planning. It would also assist school trustees and others in…