Insights | Making Education Dollars Work: Understanding Resource Allocation | In Closing / Additional Information Resources

Evidence suggests that education spending in U.S. districts and schools does not change easily. Decisions regarding allocation traditionally have focused on available resources rather than outputs such as student achievement. Analysis tools are available to help policymakers target spending more effectively to support student success. Developing effective resource allocation policy and practice that support increasing standards for student achievement presents challenges for policymakers, educators, and researchers.

Additional Information Resources

• Education finance statistics compiled by the U.S. Department of Education are posted at nces.ed.gov/edfin.

• The Digest of Education Statistics contains information about revenues and expenditures at every level of education and is online at http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/.

• The Consortium for Policy Research in Education posts findings from research on school finance and education reform at http://www.cpre.org/Research/Research.htm.

• Information on evolving state policies in school finance is available online from the National Center on Education Finance at http://www.ncsl.org/programs/educ/NCEFupdate.htm.

• The Education Commission of the States frequently studies issues in educa-tion finance for state policymakers and posts information on its Web site at http://www.ecs.org/ecsmain.asp?page=/html/issues.asp?am=1.