The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for English language arts and mathematics represent a sea change in standards-based reform and their implementation is the movement's next--and greatest--challenge. Yet, while most states have now set forth implementation plans, these tomes seldom address the crucial matter of cost. Putting a Price Tag on the…

Special education and parental school choice are two of the most controversial issues in K-12 education in the United States. In certain places, especially Milwaukee, Wisconsin, those two sensitive education concerns intersect in ways that prompt regular interest on the part of policy makers, advocates, the media, and the public at large. In this…

This article is an update of a previous study by the author which examined the growth of elementary and public school revenues for school years 1982-1983 through 1991-1992 (Alexander 1997). Using the same framework, this study provides an analysis of the factors accounting for changes in real per-pupil revenues across the 50 states and the…

This documentation is for the provisional version 1a file of the National Public Education Financial Survey (NPEFS) for school year (SY) 2013-14, fiscal year 2014 (FY 14) conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics' (NCES) . It contains a brief description of the data collection, along with information required to understand and…

America's fragmented, decentralized, politicized, and bureaucratic system of education governance is a major impediment to school reform. In this important new book, a number of leading education scholars, analysts, and practitioners show that understanding the impact of specific policy changes in areas such as standards, testing, teachers, or…

Many more factors figure into the cost of a bachelor's degree than just tuition. Depending on the type of college or university, as well as its level of selectivity, taxpayers may contribute a substantial tax subsidy or, in rare cases, receive a moderate net "profit" per bachelor's degree. It is important to consider all of the costs and…

For 46 years, the United States Department of Education (USDOE) has used the Title I program as a means of helping school districts increase educational opportunities for low-income students. In the past 10 years alone, the federal government has expended over $140 billion on Title I, yet many observers feel it has fallen well short of its mark of…

Institutions of higher education are facing the difficult challenge of meeting increased demands for high quality education and services for students, while keeping costs low, and finding new sources of revenue to compensate for the decrease in funding from state and federal sources. In an attempt to meet these demands new strategies and…

Research shows that students who participate in dual enrollment are more likely than their peers to finish high school, enter college and complete a degree. This means dual enrollment can greatly benefit students in rural areas, which report lower college-going and postsecondary attainment rates than other locales. However, rural areas face unique…

Considering the broader context of school reform that is seeking education strategies that might deliver substantial impact, this article examines four questions related to the policy and practice of expanding learning time: (a) Why do educators find the standard American school calendar insufficient to meet students' educational needs, especially…

Two significant challenges hamper analyses of collective choice of educational vouchers. One is the multi-dimensional choice set arising from the interdependence of the voucher, public education spending, and taxation. The other is that household preferences between public and private schooling vary with the policy chosen. Even absent a voucher,…

"The State of Preschool 2017" is the 15th edition of the National Institute for Early Education Research's (NIEER) annual report tracking state-funded preschool access, resources, and quality. Since 2002, many states have made progress, a few have fallen behind, and a handful have emerged as leaders. As a result, disparities in access to…

Building a more accurate, reliable and consistent method of analyzing how states fund public education starts with a critical question: What is fair school funding? In this report, "fair" school funding is defined as a state finance system that ensures equal educational opportunity by providing a sufficient level of funding distributed…

The "Great Recession" of 2008-2010 has brought a truly unprecedented level of financial chaos to U.S. higher education, exposing chronic fault lines in the system of financing that threaten national capacity to meet the future need for college graduates. This article examines the nature of the higher education "cost disease,"…

This brief shows how teachers in a Time-Technology swap school model may earn more, sustainably. In this model, schools use age-appropriate portions of digital learning (as little as about an hour daily per student) to free the time of excellent teachers to teach more students and potentially to collaborate with peers. By teaching more students,…