| Marta Elliott
University of Nevada
School finance and opportunities to learn: Does money well spent equalize student achievement outcomes?
FINAL REPORT:
This study links U.S. Census data on school finance to NELS:88 data to study the process through which financial resources affect opportunities to learn in U.S. public high schools. It examines the direct effects of school expenditures on student achievement in math and science, and the indirect effects of expenditures on achievement through their provision of opportunities to learn. Furthermore, it tests multiple components of opportunities to learn to determine their relative impact on student success. The results indicate that per-pupil expenditures indirectly increase student achievement by providing access to teachers who employ effective pedagogies in the classroom.
The central issue addressed in this study is how the allocation of public school funds affects student achievement through access to opportunities to learn (OTL). The study poses three related questions. First, do educational expenditures affect student achievement? Second, what components of OTL affect math and science achievement? And third, if funds are allocated toward the most critical components of OTL, do students learn more? The analyses of OTL focus on twelfth-grade math and science classrooms, and the outcome under consideration is change in math or science performance between the tenth and twelfth grades. This research illuminates both the relationship between spending practices and student achievement, and the specific components of OTL in the classroom that affect student outcomes. Moreover, it indicates how financial resources indirectly affect student achievement by creating differential access to OTL.
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