School policy debates vacillate between policies emphasizing improvement in general skills and those aimed at strengthening the linkages between schools and the workplace. While these policies do not necessarily conflict, each is frequently motivated by shortcomings in the other. This paper presents basic evidence about the very substantial…

Suggests that RAND's claims to have overturned conventional research wisdom on connections between school expenditures, class size, teacher pay, and student achievement are highly problematic, explaining that its report drew sweeping conclusions from average statewide data from just 44 states, and the data analysis is subject to significant…