As part of its Partnership for Pre-K Improvement (PPI) initiative, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation sponsored the RAND Corporation to study the cost of high-quality pre-K programming. The RAND study included three states--Oregon, Tennessee, and Washington--that were partnering with the foundation under PPI. The objective of the study was to…

There is strong evidence that children who attend high-quality pre-kindergarten (pre-K) programs learn skills that benefit them in school and life. The price tag of most private programs puts them out of reach for some families, however. In response, many states and school districts fund pre-K programs to expand opportunities for their youngest…

States and localities throughout the United States are expanding their investments in pre-kindergarten (pre-K) programs. Although spending on publicly funded pre-K programs is well documented, relatively less is known about the true cost to deliver the programs, especially considering varying quality standards and accounting for the resources used…

This is the third paper on the topic of outcomes-based funding written by Dennis Jones for Complete College America. The first paper, "Performance Funding: From Idea to Action" (ED535356), proposed a set of design and implementation principles to help states develop and implement their own outcomes-based funding models. The second paper,…

Community Schools implement evidence-based strategy to bring together the resources of school, family, and community in order to make schools stronger and help young people thrive. While they might take different approaches, these schools generally employ whole-child, research-based strategies and elevate innovative and holistic practices in order…

Given diminished governmental support, competition from private counterparts, and public demands for access to services, public universities need to respond in an effective manner to take advantage of opportunities and meet the challenges of today's highly competitive environment. A critical factor in meeting these challenges is the manner in…

Extensive media coverage of New York City's Harlem Children's Zone's cradle-to-career program over the past several years has served to focus mainstream attention on school reform in a way unprecedented in recent history. Cradle-to-career programs seek to provide children living in poverty with a high-quality birth-to-employment education through…

The business models under which most public universities in the U.S. operate have become unsustainable. They were put in place when state economies were stronger and there were fewer programs making competing claims on state funds. The current Great Recession has made things worse, but the unsustainability of current business models derives from…

The 2010 Acts of the Assembly, Chapter 874, directs the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) to conduct a study on state financial aid. In support of this directive, SCHEV conducted a series of meetings with representatives from each public four-year college or university, Richard Bland College, and representatives from the…

The demands of society and constraints on resources will require change in the financing models states use to fund their higher education enterprises. Models built on the priorities of student access and institutional growth will no longer suffice. Those based on student success and productivity increases consistent with getting more entering…

Recently the Oregon Legislative Assembly called for a new funding approach for regional programs for severely disabled students. The resulting resource-cost model, based on a state approved funding level by handicap and instructional delivery system or student placement, provides greater educational equity for disabled students regardless of…

The Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory asked state department of education staff members of Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana to recommend Title I schools that had made significant improvement in student achievement. The Title I schools have schoolwide or targeted assistance and vary in size, grade configuration, diversity, and…

This paper reviews a descriptive model that attempts to build a relationship between funding and school effectiveness. The model describes schools in terms of their component parts. The model allows policymakers to make assumptions about how much improvement in student performance should be expected as a result of changes in funding. It also…

Allocation of a lump sum appropriation among seven colleges and universities in a single system can often be a source of wide dissention. Institutions in Oregon have achieved consensus on a budget allocation model that rests on recent advances in cost analysis. The model allocates funds on an equal basis for each major discipline and by level of…

Describes development of the Oregon Quality Education model, an adequacy-funding model. Explores the rationale behind its development as well as the political and economic realities policymakers face in attempting to determine how much money Oregon's schools would need to meet state education reform goals and provide a quality education to all…