Teacher Practical Guidance:
School Finance
Category: External
Rank Order
74
Effect Size
0.20
Achievement Gain %
8
How-To Strategies
To have the most impact on student achievement, school finance should prioritize:
1. Time for teacher collaboration and professional development
2. Instructional supplies
3. Instructional methodology (evidence-based) that solves student achievement and fosters social-emotional development
4. Too much money is spent on structural solutions like class size, length of school year, and creating new school structures. Greenwald (1996)
5. Effect-size data on popular ways to spend money in schools (note the following do not change student achievement much)
- 0.15 increase in per pupil funding
- 0.22 teacher conference attendance
- 0.18 teacher experience
- 0.16 teacher salary
- 0.04 class size
How-To Resources
References
Childs & Shakeshaft. (1986). A meta-analysis of research on the relationship between educational expenditures and student achievement.Journal of Education Finance.
Davis-Beggs. (2013). The effects of school resources on student achievement. Dissertation.
Greenwald, R., et Al. (1996). The effect of school resources on student achievement. Review of Educational Research, 66(3), 361-396. Link
Hedges, Laine, & Greenwald. (1996). An Exchange: Part I: Does Money Matter? A Meta-Analysis of Studies of the Effects of Differential School Inputs on Student Outcomes. Educational Researcher.