The Economics of Equity in K-12 Education

Connecting Financial Investments with Effective Programming

Edited by Goldy Brown III and Christos A. Makridis

Despite decades of increased state and federal funding for education, student outcomes have largely deteriorated: according to the 2022 NAEP exam results, reading and math capabilities hit a thirty-year low. The emerging workforce is less prepared to handle the increasingly complex demands of the future, which is likely to accelerate income inequality and stifle our nation’s economic and social competitiveness. Presenting the latest research on the economics of K-12 education, this book makes recommendations about specific educational programming that have shown potential in increasing student outcomes for all learners, focusing on human capital and practical recommendations for state and local policy makers and educational leaders.

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 284 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-1-5381-6898-1 • Hardback • February 2023 • $95.00 • (£73.00)

978-1-5381-6899-8 • Paperback • February 2023 • $39.00 • (£30.00)

978-1-5381-6900-1 • eBook • February 2023 • $37.00 • (£30.00)

Subjects: Education / Finance, Education / Leadership, Business & Economics / Education, Education / Administration / General, Business & Economics / Knowledge Capital, Business & Economics / Public Finance, Education / Educational Policy & Reform / General, Political Science / Public Policy / Economic Policy

The Economics of Equity in K-12 Education

Connecting Financial Investments with Effective Programming

Hardback

Paperback

eBook

Summary

Despite decades of increased state and federal funding for education, student outcomes have largely deteriorated: according to the 2022 NAEP exam results, reading and math capabilities hit a thirty-year low. The emerging workforce is less prepared to handle the increasingly complex demands of the future, which is likely to accelerate income inequality and stifle our nation’s economic and social competitiveness. Presenting the latest research on the economics of K-12 education, this book makes recommendations about specific educational programming that have shown potential in increasing student outcomes for all learners, focusing on human capital and practical recommendations for state and local policy makers and educational leaders.

Details

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 284 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-1-5381-6898-1 • Hardback • February 2023 • $95.00 • (£73.00)

978-1-5381-6899-8 • Paperback • February 2023 • $39.00 • (£30.00)

978-1-5381-6900-1 • eBook • February 2023 • $37.00 • (£30.00)

Subjects: Education / Finance, Education / Leadership, Business & Economics / Education, Education / Administration / General, Business & Economics / Knowledge Capital, Business & Economics / Public Finance, Education / Educational Policy & Reform / General, Political Science / Public Policy / Economic Policy

Author

Contributors
Ryan Baker, Mark A. Brackett, Christopher D. Brooks, Goldy Brown III, Albert A. Cheng, Corey DeAngelis, Walter G. Ecton, Nicole A. Elbertson, Tangular A. Irby, Robert Maranto, F. Mike Miles, Krista L. Smith, Matthew G. Springer, Aidan Vining, David Weimer
About the Editors
Goldy Brown III is director of Whitworth University’s Educational Administration Program and assistant professor in Whitworth’s Graduate School of Education, in Spokane, Washington. He has more than twenty years of educational experience as a teacher, administrator, professor, and researcher. He holds a doctorate in educational leadership and policy analysis from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Schools that Goldy Brown led received four state recognition awards for closing the achievement gap between low-income students and affluent students. His research focuses on school leadership, an effective educational policy, programs, and systems for traditionally underserved students.
Christos A. Makridis holds academic appointments out of Columbia Business School, Stanford University, University of Nicosia, Arizona State University, and Baylor University. He is also an adjunct scholar at the Manhattan Institute and a senior adviser at Gallup. Christos has published more than seventy peer-reviewed research articles and earned dual master’s and PhDs in economics and management science & engineering at Stanford University.

Table of Contents

List of Tables and Figures
Introduction (Christos Makridis and Goldy Brown III)
This Book’s Objective
Table I.1. Educational Funding Since 1960
Figure I.1. The Relationship Between Education, Equity, and Economics
Early Childhood Education
Table I.2. Program Recommendations
Summary of State and Local Policy Recommendations
PART I: EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS THAT HAVE PRODUCED POSITIVE RESULTS
1 The Economic Value of Parent and Community Involvement (Albert A. Cheng and Robert Maranto)
Changing Family Structure, Schools, and Society
School and Family Inputs
The Education Production Function
The Coleman Report
Waning Attention to Family Inputs
Waxing Attention to School Finance
Family Inputs and Children’s Outcomes
Sociology Research and Evidence
Evidence From the Understanding America Study
Figure 1.1. Educational Attainment and Employment Status by Childhood Family Structure
Figure 1.2. Household Income by Childhood Family Structure
Figure 1.3. Positive and Negative Affect by Childhood Family Structure
Educational Research on Parent Involvement and Community Engagement
Evaluations of Family Support Interventions
Implications for Policy and Practice and Future Research
2 The Educational Equalizer: Funding Students Instead of Systems (Corey DeAngelis)
COVID Revealed a Massive Power Imbalance in Education
Politicization of Public School COVID-19 Responses
Incentives in the Governance of Public and Private Schools
Empowering Families and Improving Outcomes
Understanding the Incentives Behind Funding Students, Not Systems
Table 2.1. The Effect of Private-School Choice on Math and Reading Test Scores
Implementable State Policy Recommendations
K-12 Education’s New Special Interest
3 Quality and Intentionality: Making After-School Programs More Effective (Goldy Brown III)
Taxonomy of Government-Funded After-School Interventions
Academic Improvement
Social-Emotional Learning
Exposure, Recreation, and STEM
Improving After-School Programs: Quality and Intentionality
Implementation Questions and Recommendations
Recommendations for Programming
Table 3.1. After-School Programs
Personnel and Attendance
Funding
Potential Cost-Effective Analysis
Table 3.2. Cost-Effective Analyses for After-School Program
Preventing Negative Behavior
Further Research Regarding After-School Programming
4 Career, Technical, and Higher-Education Opportunities for Traditionally Underserved Students (Walter G. Ecton)
Background and Evidence on CTE Outcomes
Vocational Education in the International Context
Examining CTE in Today’s Context
Data
Descriptive Findings
Figure 4.1. Distribution of Student CTE Credit Accumulation
Figure 4.2. Average CTE Credits per Student by Career Cluster
Table 4.1. CTE Credits Taken by Student and School Characteristics
Methods
Table 4.2. OLS Regression Results: Predictors of Selection as CTE Concentrator and Select Outcomes of Interest
Table 4.3. Balance Check: Comparing CTE Concentrators with Matched Comparison Groups
Results and Discussion
Table 4.4. Propensity Score Results: CTE Concentrators Compared to Matched Students
Table 4.5. OLS Regression Results: Effect of CTE Concentration
Recommendations for Policy and Practice
Define Intended Outcomes for Specific CTE Programs
Build Partnerships to Strengthen CTE Programs
Only Offer High-Quality, Relevant CTE Programs
Ensure Access to CTE for the Students Who Stand to Benefit Most
Focus on Equitable Participation in CTE
5 Turning Hurdles Into Launch Pads: Improving Equity and Efficiency Through Increased High School Graduations in the United States (Aidan Vining and David Weimer)
Available Evidence on Ethnicity/Race (Minority) and Income Differences
Table 5.1. Public School Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate by Ethnic Group for the 2012 Through 2018 School Years (percent)
Why Does It Matter? The Social Value of High School Completion
High School Graduation Shadow Prices for the United States
Estimation Steps
Estimation Issues
Table 5.2. Steps in Estimating Disadvantaged High School Graduation Shadow Price
Shadow Price Estimates
Benefits and Discount Rates
Table 5.3. US High School Graduation Estimates: Alternative Discount Rates and Specifications, Point Estimates, and Monte Carlo Means (and Standard Deviations) in 1,000s of 2021 Dollars
Benefits Including Externalities
Applicability of the Estimates to Minority and Economically Disadvantaged Students
Increasing Minority and Disadvantaged Student Graduation
CBA and CEA Evidence
Promising Interventions That Have Not (Yet) Been Shown to Offer Positive Net Benefits
Conclusions and Policy Implications
PART II: CHANGES NEEDED AT THE STATE AND LOCAL LEVEL TO MAKE POSITIVE RESULTS MORE WIDESPREAD
6 Getting Past the Current Trade-Off Between Privacy and Equity in Educational Technology (Ryan Baker)
The Promise of Artificially Intelligent Educational Technology
The Risk of Algorithmic Bias
The Push Toward Prioritizing Privacy
Alternative Ways to Protect Privacy While Improving Algorithmic Effectiveness
Recommendations for State Educational Agencies and School Districts
Provide Demographic Data to Vendors for the Purpose of Checking for Algorithmic Bias
Incentivize Vendors to Conduct Algorithmic Bias Audits, or Conduct Them Directly
Rather Than Asking Vendors to Delete Data, Ask Them to Secure It
Encourage Vendors to Adopt Data Infrastructures That Enable Privacy-Protecting Analyses
Conclusions
7 Identifying, Establishing, and Distributing the Economic Value of the Classroom Teacher (Christopher D. Brooks and Matthew G. Springer)
Quantifying the Economic Value of Teachers
Table 7.1. Dimension and Examples of Teacher Production
Maximizing Teacher Value: Policy Reforms to Compensation, Recruitment, Evaluation, and Retention
The Problem: Teacher Compensation Policies Fail to Recognize the Value of Teachers
Table 7.2. Step-and-Lane Salary Schedule in Carroll County Public Schools, MD (in US dollars)
Potential Policies for Improvement: Teacher Performance Incentives
Challenges in Evaluating and Retaining the Most Effective and Valuable Teachers
The Problem: Teacher Evaluation Systems Neither Adequately Differentiate Teachers by Ability Nor Emphasize the Economic Value of Teachers
The Solution: Evaluation Systems That Emphasize Robust Measures of Value Added
The Problem: Teacher Retention Is Low, Especially for Highly Effective Teachers, and School Leaders Have Limited Capacity for Removing Ineffective Teachers
Potential Policies for Improvement: Tenure Reforms, Principal Accountability, and Increased Incentives
Equity: How Can We Get the Most-Effective Teachers to Work with the Least-Advantaged Students?
Conclusion and Recommendations
Compensation
Evaluation
Retention
Distribution
8 Ensuring All Children Succeed with Social-Emotional Learning (Nicole A. Elbertson, Mark A. Brackett, Tangular A. Irby, and Krista L. Smith)
RULER as a Case Study
Best Practices in Equitable Implementation of SEL
Commit to Making Equitable SEL a Priority
Hire and Maintain a Diverse Staff to Instruct and Model SEL
Get to Know Students to Ensure That Lessons and Examples Are Relevant and Meaningful
Acknowledge Ethnocentrism and Bias in SEL Programs and Practices and Correct for Them
Ensure That SEL Is Not Misused to Control Marginalized Groups
Choose Words Carefully
Ensure Accessibility of All Tools, Strategies, and Content
Consider Using SEL as a Means to Transform Inequitable Settings and Systems
Partner with Parents, Caregivers, and the Community
Be Curious and Open to Feedback
Use SEL for Prevention as Well as Intervention
Monitor All SEL Efforts Over Time and Strive for Continuous Improvement
Conclusion and Policy Implications
9 Only Systemic Change Will Do (F. Mike Miles)
Ignoring System Principles
A Different System
Key Obstacles to Systemic Change
The Navarré Point
Other Obstacles
How to Change the System
Eight Principles of a New Education System
Learning Happens Everywhere and Anytime
Learning Is Personalized, and Students Own Their Learning
Parents Have Access to an Expanded Number of Choices of Schools and Programs
The System Offers a New Employee Value Proposition, and Compensation Is Tied to What the System Values Most
Learning Increasingly Is Focused on How to Think and How to Learn
The School, Community, and Family Provide Students With a Set of Required Experiences, Not Just Specific Courses
Community Groups Are Tapped to Educate Students in Many Non-Core Subjects
Governing Entities Check and Balance One Another and Encourage Innovation
At the Operational Level
A Focus on Outcomes
Alignment Throughout the Organization
Accountability
Support
Monitoring Progress
Budget Priorities
Compensation and Incentives
Capacity
Leadership Density
System Principles
Vision for the Future
The Pace of Change
Adaptability
A Model for Systemic Reform
The Pace of Change
Reimagined Schools?
Table 9.1. Nascent Level
Table 9.2. Progressing Level
Table 9.3. Proficient Level
Table 9.4. Advanced Level
References
Index
About the Editors and Contributors

Reviews

In today’s public policy conversations, the word 'equity' is all the rage. But all too often, 'equity' serves as little more than a buzzword to cover highly ideological claims. Goldy Brown III’s and Christos Makridis’ book is quite different. By taking steady and unswerving aim at the research evidence on costs and benefits, they bring a level of concrete sensibility to a conversation that’s sorely needed by policymakers.

— Max Eden, research fellow, American Enterprise Institute (AEI)

Too much decision-making in education ignores evidence and data. The underlying theme of The Economics of Equity in K-12 Education is that we know more about effective education than we are using. The systematic discussion of the various pieces of evidence in this book could potentially lead to significant improvements in educational outcomes. We can only hope that decision-makers take the messages of this book to heart.

— Eric Hanushek, senior fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University

America's schools face unprecedented challenges as a result of the pandemic and the decline in trust in schools and educators. This timely book provides a sober, research-based look at the evidence on what works in education and provides solid guidance on the work that is needed in the years ahead.

— Raymond Domanico, senior fellow and director of education policy, Manhattan Institute

Promoting educational freedom is a necessary ingredient to ensure the rising generation has an opportunity to live the American Dream. The contributors of this book make a solid case for improving K-12 Education, most notably through the need for widespread school choice.

— Ian Rowe, senior fellow, American Enterprise Institute

The struggle in education has always been how to provide a quality education that is both equitable and efficient. The Economics of Equity in K-12 Education provides a first look at the key topics relative to this issue.

— Craig A. Schilling, EdD, professor and program chair, Concordia University Chicago

This volume will help education stakeholders and policy makers navigate promising, evidence-based policy options.

— Sofoklis Goulas, senior research associate, CREDO at Stanford University

A review of the measurable impact of current, post-pandemic issues as they relate to financing K-12 education, this book covers a broad range of issues and endeavors to quantify the impact of each from a perspective that considers equity and financial success. The Economics of Equity in K-12 Education has the potential to significantly inform practice in the public school sector.

— Tammy T. White, assistant professor and director of the Master’s Program in Educational Leadership, Winthrop University

This book rips the cover off the idea that just providing more money is what is needed—asserting that the money needs to be strategically targeted or those on the margins will continue to remain there. Going beyond surface fixes for various issues in providing equitable education, The Economics of Equity in P12 Education examines needed changes in policies affecting education and the very structure of education itself to maximize impact. If the playing field is ever going to be leveled and equitable education achieved, this is where educational policy makers must start.

— Elizabeth Timmerman Lugg, JD, PhD, Illinois State University

This text synthesizes recent research in the economics of education, particularly focused on economic evaluation and program evaluation literature, with two new lenses—one focused on equity, and the other on systemic factors (things like teachers, data infrastructure, and choice) that moderate which policies are adopted and how—that provide a more unifying conceptual framework with considerations for policy than most such compendia of research.

— Robert Shand, School of Education, American University

This book is a comprehensive and timely record of historic and more recent interventions in education targeted at mitigating inequities and inequalities, which stem from both inadequate school funding and historical injustices in opportunities, especially for low-income families. I especially appreciated examples of successful programming which did not rely only on availability of funds but used other, evidence-based and robust interventions. This is an invaluable resource which covers a wide range of applications to improve outcome for learners—from early childhood to transition to adulthood—and appeals to a wide range of audiences. It could be especially valuable to those who are tasked with making decisions about the efficient allocation of limited resources: school districts administrators, school counselors, members of school boards, as well as decision-makers at a local, state and federal levels. I will definitely use it in my program evaluation and economics of education courses.

— Margarita Pivovarova, Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, Arizona State University

Having been an elementary, middle school, and high school teacher for many years, as well as now being a professor of education and a director of an elementary education program, I must say that the chapters edited for this volume successfully discuss a number of issues that have plagued our educational system for years. In doing so, the editors have offered previously dismissed and/or ignored perspectives the necessary space to share new possibilities in ameliorating the short-comings of such a system. Some of the ideas presented are not easy for educational leaders like myself to hear; yet, we must make room for them if we want to operate using a more holistic understanding of the complexities that frame and characterize our work. In short, this book is a must-have resource for anyone serious about educational policy, school administration, or classroom teaching.

— Luciano Cid, assistant professor of education, Biola University; chair of the Brain, Neuroscience and Education SIG 14 (AERA); and interim director of Elementary Education and Online Multiple Subject Program