The Impact of Differential Expenditures on School Performance

Item

Title

The Impact of Differential Expenditures on School Performance

Abstract/Description

Two decades of research into educational production functions have produced startlingly consistent results: Variations in school expenditures are not systematically related to variations in student performance. Enormous differences in teacher quality exist, but differences in teacher skill are not strongly related to educational backgrounds, amount of teaching experience, or teaching in small classes. Further, more skilled teachers simply are not regularly paid more than less skilled teachers. These findings suggest that school decision making must move away from traditional “input directed” policies to ones providing performance incentives. The concentration on expenditure differences in, for example, school finance court cases or legislative deliberations, appears misguided given the evidence.

Author/creator

Hanushek, Eric A.

Date

1989

In publication

Educational Researcher

Volume

18

Issue

4

Pages

45-62

Resource type

en Research/Scholarly Media

Resource status/form

en Published Text

Scholarship genre

en Synthesis/Overview

Open access/full-text available

en No

Peer reviewed

en Yes

ISSN

0013-189X

DOI

10.3102/0013189X018004045

URL

Official Publisher's Webpage (SAGE Journals)

Citation

Hanushek, E. A. (1989). The Impact of Differential Expenditures on School Performance. Educational Researcher, 18(4), 45–62. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X018004045

Cited in

Democratizing Educational Innovation and Improvement: The Policy Contexts of Improvement Research in Education

Item sets

Handbook Chapter 10 Citations

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