Browsing social media during back-to-school time, one frequently encounters pleas from teachers to help purchase classroom supplies through #clearthelist campaigns or to support their class' DonorsChoose projects. At a time of historically high levels of education spending, why do teachers require additional assistance to meet basic classroom…

This article explains the process behind estimating a National Education Cost Model (NECM) and generating from that model projections of per-pupil costs to achieve 2016 national average outcomes (reading and math grades 3 to 8) across all districts in the United States, from 2019-20 to 2020-21. This article is a follow-up to a preliminary report…

Using testing data from 2.1 million students in 10,000 schools in 49 states (plus D.C.), we investigate the role of remote and hybrid instruction in widening gaps in achievement by race and school poverty. We find that remote instruction was a primary driver of widening achievement gaps. Math gaps did not widen in areas that remained in-person…

Student achievement and public school funding are national concerns. Federal, state, and local funding vary across the nation and within systems in each state. In the past several years, Georgia school systems have faced austerity cuts by the state legislature and governor, and function with less money while trying to improve student achievement…

A long standing debate among policymakers as well as researchers is whether and how funding affects the quality of education. Often missing from the discussion is information about the costs of providing education at the school level and below, yet such information could impart a better indication of the linkages between outcomes and resources…

Austin Independent School District served more than 13,000 students in summer programs during 2009, providing opportunities for accelerated learning, maintenance of academic skills between school years, course credit recovery, state achievement tests, or school-level transition activities. This report summarizes this information.