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…

Students' attitudes toward physical education (PE) affect decisions to be physically active, are affected by the teacher and the curriculum, and become less positive as children get older. Federal funding has been granted to improve physical education programs, yet it is unknown how this funding affects attitudes and decisions to remain active.…

School Improvement Grants (SIGs) exemplify a capacity-building investment to spur sustainable changes in America's persistently lowest-performing schools and stimulate the economy. This study examines both short- and longer-term effects of the first two cohorts of SIG schools from four locations across the country. Dynamic…

Purpose: This study explored implementation of the middle school concept (MSC) in Illinois middle-level schools, examining relationships between MSC implementation and schools' relative wealth, racial/ethnic composition, and achievement levels. Design/methodology/approach: This quantitative study utilized a sample of 137 Illinois middle-level…

The increasing importance of formal environmental education underscores a teacher's role in the development of knowledge, attitudes, and actions toward nature. This qualitative study explores how a cohort of sixth grade teachers (18) in Nova Scotia conceptualize environmental education and perceive teaching challenges. Data were collected through…

The New Social Studies movement was an effort by social scientists to reform US social studies/history curriculum at all levels during the 1960s and early 1970s. In the end, more than 50 different projects attempting to revitalise social studies were developed. Many of the projects focused on inquiry-based teaching practices and curriculum.…

Per pupil spending on teacher salaries is the product of four factors: teacher/pupil ratio, starting salary level, steepness of salary schedule above minimum, and incumbent teachers' placement on the scale. Using California per pupil expenditures on teachers' salaries (for grades three and six) to predict student achievement gives very different…

Examines how the New Milford (Connecticut) School District avoided failing accreditation by creating a plan to convert the deteriorating high school building into an intermediate school for grades four to six. Planning concerns and accomplishments are discussed, including overcoming parental objections, the importance of the cafeteria's location,…

In an era dominated by issues of school finance adequacy, it seems particularly important to provide evidence that, despite a number of claims to the contrary, educational resources are indeed positively related to improved student achievement. One of the hypotheses of this article is that expenditures per pupil must be disaggregated into more…