Because school budgets are limited and becoming more so, the wise use of school finances to enhance student learning is imperative. This digest examines the ways public schools are redistributing existing resources and changing policies to increase student academic achievement. Information is provided on the most effective means for allocating…

School finance has traditionally concentrated on the distribution of resources to school districts, focusing primarily on the equitable distribution of funds within a state. In recent years, more attention has been paid to the issue of productivity--how effectively school districts use the funds they receive to provide education to students. This…

This Digest discusses efforts to achieve financial equity in education. It describes the extent of financial disparity and how, after 3 decades of litigation, such disparities among districts and among states remain high. In New Jersey alone, the per-pupil expenditures ranged from $5,900 to $11,950. Even with such inequities, some promising…

School finance has traditionally concentrated on the distribution of resources to school districts, focusing primarily on the equitable distribution of funds within a state. In recent years, more attention has been paid to the issue of productivity-how effectively school districts use the funds they receive to provide education to students. This…

Some of the issues surrounding school productivity are discussed in this ERIC digest. It presents the results of early research that explored whether there is a relationship between educational funding and student outcomes. Some of the reasons behind schools' productivity problems are presented, including problems with unstable governance and the…

This digest in Spanish discusses efforts to achieve financial equity in education. It describes the extent of financial disparity and how, after 3 decades of litigation, such disparities among districts and among states remain high. In New Jersey alone, the per-pupil expenditures ranged from $5,900 to $11,950. Even with such inequities, some…

A discussion of institutional stature in higher education focuses on its development and determination and strategies for its enhancement. The central theme is that although colleges and universities are affected by trends in the external environment, they can plan, respond, act, and organize themselves to improve their stature. The report…

Educators are under increasing pressure from policymakers and the public to demonstrate that educational resources are used in appropriate ways. This demand, coupled with an environment of increased standards and shrinking budgets, is a major challenge to rural, small, and low-income schools. This digest reviews contemporary research on resource…

Continuous changes and unpredictability create a complex environment for managers of academic affairs. What is the dean's role in the community college environment and how can he or she fulfill his or her obligations? This digest focuses on four main areas: the dean's role in the community college, the daily decisions and conflicts facing managers…

Faced with scarce resources and environmental uncertainty in the past decade, colleges and universities have experimented with different modes of academic staffing, most of which are attempts to preserve or create more flexible policies and practices. In spite of tenure systems in operation at 94% of all four year colleges, institutions have at…

There are a great many types of violence prevention programs in schools, and many are demonstrating signs of success. Funders will not provide resources for programs, nor will schools know how to choose them, unless quality evaluation data are available to show their effectiveness and promise. Resources to conduct a meaningful evaluation are often…

This digest of a full-length report provides a review of state level budgeting for higher education in terms of the underlying interplay of human and external forces coupled with factors that are present in the budgeting process itself. The environmental context includes historical, political, economic, and demographic factors. These factors…

The 2002 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act mandates that schools receiving federal funding must desegregate their student performance data by race, gender, and socioeconomic status in order to provide progress information to the community and state. Data-driven decision making is particularly important in urban schools…

This digest presents principles of enrollment management for institutions of higher education. It reviews the three decades since the introduction of the term "enrollment management," noting the goals of: (1) defining the institution's nature and characteristics for appropriate marketing; (2) incorporating all relevant campus…

Despite 1983 Elementary and Secondary Education ACT (ESEA) Title I federal funding of over $255 million for more than 3,000 projects for some 600,000 migrant children and youth, there is still need for alternate funding sources to overcome spiraling inflation and increasing program costs and numbers of eligible children. Other federal, state,…