This resource paper describes two recent studies and one report on special education costs and the methodology used in their analyses. Each study and its data source are summarized with a short discussion on the quality of the data and its usefulness and limitations in generating reliable cost estimates for special education. The paper summarizes…

Four products were developed during the second year of the Extended Opportunity Programs and Services (EOPS) cost effectiveness study for California community colleges. This project report presents: (1) a revised cost analysis form for state-level reporting of institutional program effectiveness data and per-student costs by EOPS program category…

The study was designed to develop a model for the collection and analysis of cost data for defining the cost per pupil per program per type of school (area vocational or comprehensive). An advisory committee of New Jersey State Department of Education personnel and vocational educators was selected to provide unbiased input. The selected programs…

This report provides testimony on results of a General Accounting Office (GAO) study of Chapter 1 Compensatory Education programs, Chapter 2 Education Block Grant programs, and dropout prevention programs. The report covers the following: (1) Chapter 1 student selection; (2) Chapter 1 fiscal provisions; (3) Chapter 2 data collection and…

Part 1 of the evaluation process for Project Developmental Continuity, this report presents and analyzes data on the utilization of resources during the third year of operation of 12 participating programs. The report is organized into three chapters, preceded by an executive summary and followed by appendices. Chapter 1 gives an overview of the…

Using Ohio as a case study, this paper explores what can be learned from state data systems about spending on special education. The analyses and discussion in this paper use data sets for the 1995-96 school year provided by the Ohio Department of Education. The case study examined factors that need to be considered in measuring special education…

The document reports a pilot test of the feasibility of the MISOE Census Data System (CDS) for estimating the costs of individual programs in a regional vocational school setting. The test determined that the data collection forms can be completed by a regional vocational school but that they can be simplified, and the costs of individual programs…

The study attempted to determine the feasibility of performing a cost-effectiveness analysis comparing the cooperative method to methods which do not use work experience in vocational training. Twelve school districts in Minnesota, North Carolina, and Ohio provided data for the study, involving the design of data collection instruments for cost…