Tiered instructional supports are on a steep growth trajectory in the US and getting underway internationally as a means to providing equitable education to all student groups. In the US, the Department of Education funded the expansion of multi-tiered system of support (MTSS) through school and personnel improvement grants to states. This…

This mixed-methods case study examines the emergency financial management legislation enacted in Michigan from 2009 to 2018 as an education policy for governance reform in three local school districts: Detroit, Highland Park, and Muskegon Heights. From its inception, the emergency financial manager law was an intervention strategy for local…

This study provides the first systematic analysis of the composition of charter school governing boards. We assemble a dataset of charter school boards in Massachusetts from 2001 to 2013 and investigate the consequences of donor and founder representation on governing boards. We find that the presence of donors on the charter school boards is…

What determines student achievement? The usual approach is to think of achievement as the output of an educational production function. Inputs into this educational production function include teacher quality, class size, resources, peer effects (possibly positive spillover effects and negative disruption effects), and past achievement, since…

Public colleges and universities are a key driver of social and economic mobility, yet they also face increasingly challenging financial and political environments. In this essay, I discuss four key areas in which state higher education policy can influence student success and equity: the amount of funding provided, funding allocation mechanisms,…

This report presents information describing local educational agencies' (LEA) uses of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds for technology purposes. It describes the: (1) types of educational technology that LEAs purchased with their ESSER funds; (2) challenges that LEAs experienced when using ESSER funds for educational…

The purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of Free Day Secondary Education (FDSE) policy on academic Performance of Rural Public Day Secondary Schools (RPDSS) in Kilifi County, Kenya. The study adopted descriptive survey research design and a sample of 375 subjects was considered sufficient. Structured questionnaires and interview…

Even though there are many quasi-experimental research in recent literature, there is still no consensus on whether an increase in school funding improves student achievement. Leveraging a natural experiment in South Korea, this study exploits the discontinuity in school funding rules to identify the impact of increased funding on the test scores…

This research addressed the problem of achievement gaps among elementary schools in Massachusetts. The purpose of this quantitative causal comparative study was to determine what effect, if any, funding had on elementary school accountability classification, student academic achievement, and per pupil expenditure rates. Equity theory indicated…

Racial and economic segregation continues throughout the US due to multiple factors (Rothstein, 2017), and inequality in school infrastructure spendings has been related to racial and economic segregation (Sosina & Weathers, 2019). While the obvious solution is to desegregate neighborhoods, society's inability to do this leads to a dire need…

Funding for California's schools has reached record-high levels, although the pandemic has exacerbated longstanding inequities in student outcomes. As policymakers grapple with questions around how much to fund schools and how that funding should be distributed, existing research can provide insights into where and how to use additional funds to…

With rising state and local revenues--and significant one-time federal funds in 2020-21 and 2021-22--California policymakers now have greater capacity to invest in public schools. At the same time, longstanding racial and income disparities motivate calls to provide funding more efficiently and equitably. This policy brief is adapted from Julien…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe: (1) What purposes for grant recipients are shared among private foundation that supported the movement to adopt the Common Core State Standards? (2) How do such shared purposes influence the strategic giving practiced by foundations that supported that movement? and (3) How are grants…

Strategic instructional resourcing has become an important topic in public education, the most lucrative and expensive business in the United States. It is estimated which the United States spends about $612.7 billion annually on public education. This study will analyze and synthesize data from Title I schools in South Carolina, specifically in…

As students return to full in-person learning in 2021-22, California public schools face considerable challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Record-high funding distributed through the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) will provide some of the resources that will be key to an equitable recovery. This brief highlights selected findings…